RIP Redbox
A few weeks ago, I noted that Chicken Soup For the Soul Entertainment, the parent company of Redbox, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Redbox, of course, is the sole remaining national DVD/Blu-ray rental chain, via its ubiquitous red kiosks. It explained why the Redbox kiosk at my local supermarket had an "out of service" sign, despite its power still running.
Make that was the sole national DVD rental chain. News came out last week that instead of filing for Chapter 11, Chicken Soup is instead filing for Chapter 7, basically liquidation. All remaining workers will be laid off, and all of Redbox's assets, including the kiosks, will be liquidated. Presumably, this also affects the Crackle streaming service, which Chicken Soup also owns, though Crackle as of this writing is still online and operational.
The future of DVD and Blu-ray rentals
With Redbox heading to the great video rental store in the sky, it looks like that’s the end of large-scale DVD and Blu-ray rentals in the United States. Even the few remaining mom-and-pop video rental stores are on the ropes: Scarecrow Video in Seattle says its needs $1.8 million to stay afloat, despite going national via offering a DVD-by-mail rental business, similar to what Netflix had until last year.
Streaming and digital video rentals (via Amazon, Apple TV, etc.) have pretty much replaced renting DVDs. Otherwise, the best (and possibly remaining) option for renting DVDs and Blu-rays is your local library. Public libraries allow library card holders to borrow physical media, just like the old days of Redbox or Blockbuster. Unlike those for-profit businesses, the library lends DVDs and Blu-rays for free.
Of course, you can also still buy DVDs and Blu-rays, though even those have seen a decline in sales. 2023 saw DVD/Blu-ray sales and rentals make up 3.6% of all revenue. Digital Entertainment Group, the industry analysis group behind the report, stopped counting physical media rentals as a separate number as of 2023.
Did you ever use Redbox, or still rent DVDs/Blu-rays?