Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the parent company of Crackle, Redbox, and the same-named streaming service, filed for bankruptcy last month.
Earlier this month, Redbox stopped working and locked consumers out of their movies, prompting the closure of DVD rentals and the streaming service.
The corporation now faces another challenge: what to do with its famous red kiosks. With 28,000 kiosks across the country, many of them can be found at CVS, and the retailer has asked the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case to allow it to dispose of the remaining DVD kiosks, according to the Lowpass newsletter.
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“CVS has locations where its leases have expired or are about to expire, and the presence of the kiosks at these locations exposes CVS to potential liability to its landlords,” the corporation stated in a legal filing this week. “At other locations, CVS has remodeling plans that have been thwarted by the presence of these large unwanted machines.”
In 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul ceased paying CVS commission for movie rentals from approximately 2,500 Redbox kiosks located in front of the drugstore chain, according to Lowpass. This resulted in CVS canceling their contract, and the Redbox kiosks were meant to be removed from the stores’ property but were never done. According to the report, Redbox did “remove a small number” after facing a preliminary injunction in a state court.
The company’s assets are being liquidated during bankruptcy, so removing the kiosks from CVS and other businesses is unlikely. With Redbox approaching Chapter 7 bankruptcy, CVS claims that there is no Redbox company to operate, which might allow it to remove the kiosks. Before the company shut down, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment obtained a $8 million loan, which might be used to reimburse employees who had not been paid in months.
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