DVD Rental Kiosks Business Redbox is Shutting Down

DVD kiosk-rental business Redbox is all set to close the shutter. LowPass: The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Redbox's corporate parent Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment granted the debtors request to convert it from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effectively paving the way for shutting down the company and liquidating its assets. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's CEO Bart Schwartz, who had only joined the company two weeks ago, stepped down this morning for unrelated reasons, according to the attorney representing the debtors in the case.

Companies use Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases to reorganize, allowing them to continue to operate while they rid themselves of debt, while a Chapter 7 bankruptcy generally results in a trustee selling off company assets to pay creditors, and winding down the company. "There is no means to continue to pay employees, pay any bills, otherwise finance this case. It is hopelessly insolvent," United States bankruptcy judge Thomas Horan determined during a hearing Wednesday, adding: "Given the fact that there may also be at least the possibility of misappropriation of funds that were held in trust for employees, there is more than ample reason why this case should be converted. So I am going to grant the motion." The firm operates a network of 24,000 DVD rental kiosks.

End of an era....

[King_TJ]

Kind of sad to see it go, but sure sounds like some mismanagement was going on internally in recent years. So it's probably time to say goodbye.

It's been years since I used RedBox but we still have one outside the Walgreens down the road from me. With so much of this stuff going all digital, it was kind of nice knowing there was a way to borrow a physical copy of the content if you wanted it. I probably would have still used it if Hollywood released better movies. But in recent years, they haven't put out m

Re: End of an era....

[wgoodman]

I'm sure they will claw back every single disc so they can go in a landfill because licensing.

Re: End of an era....

[UMichEE]

A couple years ago I used a Redbox kiosk to get a recent release (1/5 the cost of a digital rental) and I was surprised when the kiosk offered to let me keep the disk for another $1-2 more. Then it offered to sell me the disk for a 6-12 month old movie for $2-3 more. Given that Redbox was so happy to sell me 4K Blu-Rays for the recent Batman and Spiderman movies for $2-3, I don't think that they've got some kind of special licensing deal. I'd guess that they get a bulk discount and expect to rent new movies a few times and then sell most of the copies off as it becomes less popular.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[OverlordQ]

Same thing that happens to a lot of companies. Capitalism requires infinite growth, sometimes their grown objectives don't pan out.

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[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

If I remember correctly, you give them your payment information first in order to get the disk. If you don't return in x period of time you own the move at some crazy price. I own a couple blockbuster movies for the same reason.

Salvage?

[bill_mcgonigle]

Robotics, touchscreens, stepper motor salvage

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[supremebob]

I can only imagine how beat to hell those machines must be at this point after sitting outside and being exposed to the elements for years. Do you think that they'll be many salvagable parts left at this point? From what I remember from Redbox, those touch screens didn't even work well when they were newer.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they could be donated to libraries?

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[Waffle Iron]

Robotics, touchscreens, stepper motor salvage

I'd keep it intact. It would be the perfect companion to my Fotomat booth.

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[awwshit]

Sounds perfect for fun at Halloween. Treat or trick? Sure you want to touch that button.

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[LVSlushdat]

Nobody's gonna rent a physical DVD and risk late fees when they can just get it online.

The problem with that is the fact you can't plop the DVD into a DVD reader and rip the video to a local file to stock your Emby/Plex server
with content. If/when Hollyweird puts out a movie thats worth a shit, I'd go rent it at Redbox, rip to my Emby server, and then return the DVD.
Digital "downloads" make this pretty close to impossible. And yes, I STILL have DVD drives in several of my machines.

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[Lord Kano]

It was a very convenient way to get media.

My absolute favorite was when Hollywood Video had their MVP program. You could take out three DVDs at a time for a flat fee all month.

When they tried to replace it with whatever they called that bullshit they tried to trick us with, I declined.

They went from getting $14.99 per month from me to getting maybe $5.00 on a good month.

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[kaatochacha]

I have a ton of DVDs, and even have a DVD shop down the street from me that seems to operate on the basis of "the owners wife runs it, so they keep it open".
I lIke not having to rely on streaming for my movies, paying for something i can't actually own, and I know if my local internet craps itself I'm still good.
Plus, yes, I'm a little bit of a luddite at time. It's probably why I also still have bookshelves and real books

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[kaatochacha]

by owner, I mean the owner of the shopping center.

There's Still a Market Outside of Streaming

[eepok]

I live in a semi-rural area. In the city, there's 50-1,000 Mbps broadband access to every household. Outside of the city, broadband is either rare or expensive. I know a LOT of people who choose to live in the smaller rural towns and appreciate their local Redbox locations because of the lack of consistent, affordable broadband, AND because it's a pay-as-you-go entertainment option as opposed to the many subscription streaming services which may not actually host the movies available on Redbox.

I hope someone out there is willing to buy the hardware, IP, etc. and re-launch by focusing in these areas.

Re: There's Still a Market Outside of Streaming

[Fortnite_Beast]

Maybe Dollar General will buy the service and run it as DGBox. They're in every small town now anyway.

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[The-Ixian]

Yeah, but the movie will probably cost more than a single $ to rent...

I am going to miss...

[fjo3]

...renting movies, then returning them with porn inside!

I didn't know they were still operating.

[Lord Kano]

All of the kiosks near me disappeared years ago.

LK