Physical media could soon become a thing of the past. But Redbox doesn’t think users are ready to make the transition to purely digital video just yet, and is bulking up its stock of niche titles at its disc rental kiosks, its parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE) announced this week.
The company said it will bring on a range of new and older films, such as the rare “Ugly Dolls,” catalog titles such as “Jerry Maguire,” and much more. The move is intended to help serve customers who had been signed up to rent discs via mail from Netflix; the streamer announced this spring it was ending its DVD rental service as of Friday, Sept. 29.
The addition of these titles does not mean that Redbox is abandoning traditional blockbusters. Films like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” with large mainstream audiences will still be available at the 29,000+ Redbox kiosks across the country; in fact, those specific titles are coming to Redbox soon.
“Redbox continues to be a destination for millions of consumers, and we’re thrilled to expand our kiosk offerings to include hard-to-find titles and classic movies that everyone enjoys,” said William J. Rouhana, Jr., chief executive officer and chairman of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “We are expanding our content offerings at approximately 29,000 kiosks to include third-party studio titles and new movies such as Barbie and Oppenheimer, which will be available in the coming months. I look forward to hearing from former DVD.com customers on the titles they want to see at our kiosks.”
Former Netflix disc users can get a free rental from Redbox this weekend to mourn the loss of their service. Starting on Sept. 29, the “Show Us Your Red Envelope” social media campaign on X (formerly known as Twitter) will allow customers to share photos of their red envelopes from Netflix on the social media platform in exchange for the chance to win a free movie rental from Redbox. Users will have to respond to a specific tweet from Redbox to qualify for a free rental.
Netflix has also given select users one last hurrah before sunsetting its DVD rental service this weekend. In August, customers who were still subscribed to a DVD rental plan were given a special link to sign up for the chance to win 10 randomly-selected discs from Netflix that they’d be allowed to keep. The cutoff for that giveaway was Aug. 29, so users who didn’t sign up before then sadly missed out.
In addition to its thousands of rental kiosks, Redbox also offers a digital rental platform where users can find titles in just about every genre. Redbox also offers a huge variety of free on-demand titles and live streaming channels, so users can enjoy free entertainment while they decide what movie to rent next.
Redbox
Redbox is a free ad-supported video streaming service with dozens of live streaming channels and on demand movies. Users can also rent or buy movies through the platform.