MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > RedBox has closed shop PERMANENTLY

RedBox has closed shop PERMANENTLY


I've walked by RedBox kiosks, in recent months, noticed that they looked OFF. I guess I was right. Apparently, all the Kiosks are abandoned and full of Blu Ray and DVD discs. It's estimated to cost about $500 to remove each kiosk. Possible money opportunity ?

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/big-box-retailers-grapple-with-abandoned-redbox-kiosks-dvd-movies/#:~:text=The%20chain%20claimed%20the%20DVD,kiosks%20located%20across%203%2C800%20locations.

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What a weird concept to begin with.

I wonder where they will turn up once they get removed.

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They were fairly successful until streaming took over.

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KOWALSKI is currently scheming to take over the entire RedBox collection of DVDs. His physical media empire will span the continent, that man is up to plans of world domination!

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he is going to convert them to VHS, since he has over 35,000 vhs tapes.

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That man is trying to turn back the wheels of time and he must be stopped…by any means necessary!

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The guy at my local music/video stores tell me they're selling move records than CDs.

I think it's not just Kowalski trying to turn back the hands of time.

But if it means giving the middle finger to streaming/pay to use, then fine by me.

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I actually prefer streaming, it’s clutter and dust free but to each their own.

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But from a hoarder perspective and I want to watch what I want when I want, sometimes streaming doesn't cut it.

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That’s a fair point.

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Although I do think it's possible for us to live in a world where every movie/book/song will be available to anyone - we just have to get rid of companies that want to shake everyone down every time they want to watch a 50 year old movie.

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It's getting a bit silly. I wanted to see a movie called Elevation (2024). I missed it at theaters, I figured I'd rent it. $20 to rent, $25 to buy. Kinda similar for old movies....🤨🤨🤨

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Is this it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHaa4MAUUrg

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I think so, but it says it's blocked in your country. The main character is the new Captain America.

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You can probably access it through some VPN type thing.

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Express VPN is the best VPN. It works with Netflix.

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I hear you.
This past year I wanted to rewatch Oliver Stone’s Platoon for the umpteenth time. It’s a great and realistic seeming Anti-War film
with a real bonanza of a cast! It took some effort and a few bucks to find it available streaming.

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it was a great concept at first. you could rent a dvd for a $1.35. what killed redbox is they got greedy and started raising prices and then streaming put a end to it. there was a redbox less than a mile from my house and I would go there all the time.

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It’s weird that I never even noticed a Redbox in the New York area but maybe it was a regional thing.

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They seem to be everywhere. I'm sure you live near one. Do a search for Redbox Kiosk.

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Wow. I did a search and there are three within twenty minutes drive! I never noticed them before. I just stream everything the last few years.

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It just wasn't very convenient, unless you lived nearby or had one on the way to work. You would rent one in the afternoon / evening, then return it in the morning.

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possibly so, there was 3 that were close to my house. but then again, I live in a city with about 800,000 people.

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Apparently, a few months ago, while the machines were still ON. People were grabbing a ton of DVDs from the machines and not getting charged. Some machines might still be ON, but it's a long shot.

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There is a sub reddit dedicated to taking the dvds and the machines and making them operational. Also a Discord. The company is long gone and nobody to collect all the machines

Signed, million man.

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Ah, so somebody already realized money can be made. RedBox failed, so any other startup will also most likely fail.

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There is no money to be made. People are taking them to keep in their house as a physical media storage.

Signed, million man.

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Ah, an Antique from a bygone era. I have one of the Redbox plastic DVD cases. I forgot I bought a movie one time. I have a memento. 🤠

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Interestingly, you posted this thread the day after I saw a defunct Redbox kiosk outside of a store and I spent a few seconds thinking it was a little sad. That's really all I have to add but I hope you find this comment titillating.

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Yep. I just wanted everybody to know, they're abandoned and up for grabs.

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I've never used one of those, nor any other DVD/BD vending machine (I don't even know if there were any others aside from Redbox). By the time they became a thing I was already downloading movies.

They were around from 2002 until this year, 22 years, which is about as long as video rental stores were popular (early 1980s until about the mid 2000s), yet they didn't have anywhere near the same cultural impact. The one that was at the local grocery store had an out-of-order sign on it for the past few months, and then as of a couple of weeks ago it was gone. During all the years it was there I never happened to see anyone actually use it, nor even pay any attention to it at all.

During the 1980s and 1990s there were 5 places in town where you could rent movies, including that aforementioned grocery store. One of them was a dedicated video rental store that had thousands of movies (it closed in 2008 or 2009). That grocery store was never a popular place to rent movies because they never had a very big selection, but they did it for the longest in this town; over 40 years (about 15 of those years being in the form of a Redbox vending machine, which was the only one in town).

You can still borrow movies from the local public library though, last I knew.

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Good, serves them right for destroying the walk-in rental store industry. Remember the days when we could rent the most obscure movies from thousands of choices? Well, Redbox decided we only wanted to see the top 30 most popular movies of the last couple of years.

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Actually, I think Netflix is the main villain to blame. Netflix offered to buy Blockbuster, but all the executives laughed them out of the building.

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Meat eating dwarfs...

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You know Kowalski is buying them up for his basement and barn.

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How do so many of you know what KOWALSKI is doing in his basement ? Hmmm ??? 🤔🤔🤔

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I think you know!

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Underground Railroad Bakery ?

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Tasty buns.

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