It’s the end of an era as Redbox is set to shutdown its 24,000 remaining DVD-rental kiosks. While there are still some methods for consumers to rent DVDs, by and large Redbox’s closing represents a death knell for the physical media industry, as Americans have largely moved on to streaming services for their movie watching needs. Even streaming giant Netflix, who began business as a mail-in DVD rental company, discontinued its DVD rental service late last year.
Disney Movie Club shuts down, Sony now handling Disney’s physical media
Beginning in 2022, Redbox’s convenient rental business spread through the United States, operating over 42,000 kiosks at its peak, and cornering a 51.8% market share of the physical rental market in 2016. Redbox was acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in 2022 for $375 million, but the parent company, which currently owns a debt of $970 million, went on to file chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy last week.
“There is no means to continue to pay employees, pay any bills, otherwise finance this case. It is hopelessly insolvent,” US bankruptcy judge Thomas Horan was reported as saying at the hearing by Lowpass.
