The days of heading to the red kiosk to rent a DVD are ending as Redbox announced that after 22 years, it is officially shutting down.
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— IGN (@IGN) July 12, 2024
It’s another blow to physical media.
According to multiple reports from NBC News, Deadline and The Wall Street Journal, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Redbox’s parent company, converted its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding on Wednesday, June 10. This means Redbox, a 22-year-old DVD rental and streaming service, will officially shutdown.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the bankruptcy liquidation will shut down Redbox’s network of 24,000 DVD rental kiosks in nationwide retailers and leave approximately 1,000 employees without jobs. It’s not known when the kiosks will be shut down completely just yet.
The announcement comes weeks after Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection on June 29 with nearly $1 billion in debt.
Redbox was launched in 2002. Redbox’s DVD kiosk rentals were spotted at various locations, including fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, and pharmacies. Its convenience and affordable pricing made it widely popular among consumers, and five years after its initial launch, it would surpass Blockbuster in terms of the number of locations.
