Spectre Brands

DeadDVD rental kiosks · Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

Redbox

First kiosks in 2002. Liquidation ordered on Jul 10, 2024.

It beat the video store by being smaller than a parking space. Then the disc itself went out of use.

Why dead: The bankruptcy of its last owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation on July 10, 2024 and the kiosks and streaming services were shut down. The Redbox trademarks were listed for a lender’s foreclosure sale in April 2025, and we found no business renting or streaming under the name since.263233

Yellow paper notice taped to a Redbox kiosk saying it will no longer be in service after July 22, 2024
A grocer’s notice, July 2024Photo: TaurusEmerald, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Two red Redbox kiosks under a red awning beside a McDonald’s drive-through
At a McDonald’s in Colorado, 2012Photo: Greg Goebel, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The carousel of discs inside an opened Redbox kiosk
The disc carousel, 2011Photo: BuickCenturyDriver at English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Redbox began inside McDonald’s as an experiment in getting people to stop at the restaurant. Under Coinstar it grew to about 44,000 kiosks and $1.97 billion of revenue in 2013. Rentals fell every year after that. A private-equity buyout, a blank-cheque listing and a sale to a streaming company each added debt to a business that was shrinking, and in July 2024 a Delaware bankruptcy judge converted its owner’s case to a liquidation. This is the full post-mortem, built from the SEC filings of its owners, a court notice and contemporary press.

The company in four numbers

44,000
kiosks at the end of 2013, the highest year-end count in the filings11
$1.97B
Redbox segment revenue in 2013, on 775.7 million rentals11
$359.9M
of Redbox debt assumed by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in August 202222
1,033
employees of the last owner when the liquidation was ordered, with no severance26

Key findings

  1. The peak was 2013, and the owner said why. Rentals fell from 775.7 million in 2013 to 587.6 million in 2015. Outerwall’s annual report called it “a secular decline in the physical rental market.”1113
  2. Price rises hid the fall for two years. The nightly DVD price went from $1.00 to $1.20 in October 2011 and to $1.50 in December 2014. Revenue per rental rose from $2.54 to $2.99 between 2013 and 2015 while the number of rentals dropped 24% (derived).91213
  3. Two thirds of the revenue went in two years. Net revenue was $858.4M in 2019, $546.2M in 2020 and $288.5M in 2021, when the pandemic cut the supply of new films.17
  4. Every change of owner left debt on it. Redbox owed $325.4M at the end of 2021 and warned of substantial doubt about its future. Its next owner assumed $359.9M and was showing $970.0M of liabilities by March 2024.172223
  5. The machines outlasted the company. CVS asked the court for leave to throw out more than 2,500 kiosks. Walgreens said 5,400 were costing it $184,000 a month in electricity.2931

The story

A dollar a night, four owners and a business that kept shrinking

Redbox did not lose to a better kiosk. It won the last round of the video rental business, and then went on renting discs for another decade while the customers left.

Chapter 1 of 6

$1

a day plus tax, the rental price in the 2004 Denver test

Two red Redbox kiosks under a red awning marked dvd rental, beside a McDonald’s
Two Redbox kiosks at a McDonald’s drive-through in Loveland, Colorado, August 2012. Photo: Greg Goebel, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

2002 – 2005 · McDonald’s

A vending machine to bring people to the restaurant

By the company’s own account, Redbox originated in 2002 inside McDonald’s Ventures, which was looking for ways to bring more customers to the restaurants. The first idea was broader than films: “a variety of automated convenience options, including fully automated ‘convenience store’ kiosks.” New-release DVD rental was the one customers liked. The same fact sheet dates the start to “an initial launch of 12 kiosks in 2002.”1

In June 2004 the trade press reported that McDonald’s was putting the machines in 104 restaurants around Denver, after a smaller test in fewer than 20 locations in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas. A rental cost $1 a day plus tax and the machines took only credit cards.2 In 2005 the test was extended to more than 800 restaurants in five more markets.1

By April 2006 the Associated Press counted 750 machines in McDonald’s restaurants, each about the size of a soda machine and holding 500 discs, and 75 more in grocery stores. Redbox’s head of marketing said its share of all DVD rentals in Denver was “in the low- to mid-teens.”3

We think we’re providing a new model for the industry that is going to be difficult for the traditional retailers to compete against.

Greg Waring, Redbox vice president of marketing, to the Associated Press, Apr 30, 20063

Chapter 2 of 6

$162.4M

paid by Coinstar in February 2009 for the part of Redbox it did not yet own

A rental disc in its slim red case. Original illustration, not an official asset.

2005 – 2009 · Coinstar

The coin-counting company buys it in three steps

Coinstar, which ran coin-counting machines in supermarkets, invested $20.0M for 47.3% of Redbox in December 2005. It paid a further $12.0M a year later, when Redbox met agreed targets, without increasing its share.4 McDonald’s kept the majority, and Coinstar expected its share of Redbox’s losses for 2006 to be $4M to $5M.3

On January 18, 2008 Coinstar exercised an option, paid $5.1M and went to 51.0%, and began consolidating Redbox in its accounts.5 That February it agreed with Walmart to expand the kiosks in Walmart stores, and by the end of the year there were more than 3,200 there.56 The whole network went from 13,700 DVD kiosks at the end of 2008 to 22,400 a year later.68

On February 26, 2009 Coinstar bought the rest from GetAMovie Inc. and the other minority holders (Redbox’s own history describes the seller as McDonald’s) for $162.4M: $113.9M in cash and $48.5M in Coinstar shares.71 The four payments come to $199.5M (derived).

Chapter 3 of 6

28 days

the wait for new Warner, Universal and Fox titles agreed in 2010

News segment · 2009Bloomberg: “Sony To Source Moviews To Redbox Kiosks” (sic) A short Bloomberg report published on July 21, 2009, four days after the Sony licence was signed. The description gives more than 17,000 Redbox machines at the time.737 Watch on YouTube

2008 – 2012 · The studios

Hollywood tries a 28-day delay

A new release for a dollar a night was a problem for the studios, which sold the same disc for many times that. By early 2009 Redbox had sued Universal Studios Home Entertainment over new distribution terms; a year later it had separate complaints against Universal and 20th Century Fox, whose terms would have kept titles out of the kiosks for 30 to 45 days after release.67

Other studios chose to supply it. On July 17, 2009 Redbox signed a licence with Sony under which it expected to pay about $487.0M over the term.7 On February 12, 2010 it settled with Warner: Redbox would get the discs 28 days after they went on sale and dropped its lawsuit. The agreements signed during 2010 with Warner, Universal and Fox all carried the 28-day window.78

It did not slow the growth. Redbox revenue was $773.4M in 2009, $1,159.7M in 2010 and $1,561.6M in 2011, the year it added video games and raised the DVD price to $1.20.9 In June 2012 it paid NCR $100.0M for that company’s DVD kiosk business, about 6,200 active machines, which it replaced with its own or removed.10

Chapter 4 of 6

44,000

kiosks in 36,400 locations at the end of 2013

Interview · 2011CNN Business: “Redbox: DVDs are not dead” Published on September 12, 2011. The description names Coinstar chief executive Paul Davis and says Redbox will add to its 33,000 kiosks. The count reached about 44,000 two years later and never went higher.3711 Watch on YouTube

2012 – 2015 · The peak

Forty-four thousand kiosks and nowhere left to put one

At the end of 2013 there were about 44,000 kiosks in 36,400 locations, in every state, Puerto Rico and Canada. Revenue that year was $1,974.5M, on 775.7 million rentals.11 Coinstar changed its name to Outerwall that year. The network had stopped growing: it had added 8,300 kiosks in 2012 and added 300 in 2013.11

The answer to streaming was a joint venture, Redbox Instant by Verizon, agreed in 2012 and launched commercially on March 14, 2013. Redbox withdrew on October 20, 2014, “due primarily to a lower than anticipated subscriber base.”1112 In January 2015 it decided to shut down in Canada as well.12

In December 2014 the DVD price rose by 30 cents to $1.50 a day.12 Revenue per rental went up, and rentals went down: 717.1 million in 2014 and 587.6 million in 2015, a fall of 18.1% in one year. Revenue for 2015 was $1,760.9M.13 The annual report’s phrase for it was a “secular decline in the physical rental market.”13

Chapter 5 of 6

$1.6B

enterprise value of the 2016 buyout of Outerwall, Redbox’s parent, including net debt

A red Redbox kiosk with a touch screen standing inside a supermarket entrance
A kiosk inside a Publix supermarket in Clearwater, Florida, November 2020. Photo: MatthewHoobin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

2016 – 2022 · Apollo and the SPAC

Private, then public again with a going-concern warning

On July 25, 2016 Outerwall agreed to be bought by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management for $52.00 a share in cash, about $1.6 billion including net debt. The tender offer was paid on September 27, 2016.1415 Redbox, Coinstar and the rest stopped filing public accounts. We have no kiosk or revenue figures for 2016 to 2018.

Redbox came back to the stock market on October 22, 2021 by merging with a blank-cheque company, Seaport Global Acquisition, with Apollo still holding the majority of the votes.1617 Its first annual report as a listed company showed what the private years had done. Net revenue had gone from $858.4M in 2019 to $546.2M in 2020 and $288.5M in 2021; the kiosk count was down to 38,379; debt outstanding was $325.4M; and the pandemic’s effect on results, with recurring losses, raised “substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.”17

The company cut 150 jobs in March 2022.18 On May 10 it agreed to be acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, a streaming company that owned Crackle, for 0.087 of a Chicken Soup share per Redbox share.19 The deal closed on August 11, 2022.20

Chapter 6 of 6

$970M

total liabilities of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment on March 31, 2024

Yellow paper notice taped to a red kiosk: this Redbox kiosk will no longer be in service after Monday July 22nd, 2024
A supermarket’s notice on a kiosk in Chula Vista, California, photographed on July 13, 2024. Photo: TaurusEmerald, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

2022 – 2024 · Collapse

Twenty-three months under the last owner

The merger brought $359.9M of Redbox debt with it. The buyer later wrote that its ability to service that debt had been “predicated on a partial return to pre-COVID levels in the number and cadence of theatrical releases” and on kiosk rentals returning to about a third of 2019 levels. Neither happened. For 2023 it reported a net loss of $623.0M, including $380.8M of impairments, and said the studios had ended their supply agreements because it could not pay their licence fees.22

The network shrank from about 36,000 kiosks at the merger to about 27,000 in the spring of 2024.2523 On June 11 the controlling shareholder removed every director but the chairman, William Rouhana.24 On June 28 the company filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware, listing about $970M of debts against $414M of assets.2526 Employees had not been paid for weeks and their health cover had lapsed.2629

On July 10, 2024 Judge Thomas Horan converted the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation. Variety reported 1,033 employees out of work without severance, and about 24,000 kiosks to be shut down along with the streaming services.26

1,000 people are about to lose their jobs and they’re not even going to be paid for work that they did.

Judge Thomas M. Horan, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Jul 10, 2024, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and quoted in Variety26

Timeline

Twenty-four years, 33 moments

From twelve kiosks to a foreclosure sale, with the money, the studios and the rivals alongside. Filter by thread.

All 33 events as a list
  1. 20022002
    Corporate

    An idea inside McDonald’s

    By the company’s account the concept originates at McDonald’s Ventures, with an initial launch of 12 kiosks.1

  2. Jun2004
    Product

    The Denver test

    McDonald’s puts DVD rental machines in 104 Denver-area restaurants at $1 a day plus tax, after a smaller test in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas.2

  3. 20052005
    Product

    Five more markets

    The test is extended to more than 800 restaurants in Baltimore, Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City and St. Louis.1

  4. Dec
    Money

    Coinstar buys 47.3%

    Coinstar invests $20.0M under an agreement dated November 17, 2005. A further $12.0M follows in December 2006.4

  5. Apr2006
    Product

    Into the supermarkets

    The Associated Press counts 750 machines in McDonald’s restaurants and 75 in grocery stores, with agreements for 400 more.3

  6. Sep
    Product

    Reserve online

    Customers can choose a title on the website and collect it at a kiosk.1

  7. Jan 182008
    Corporate

    Coinstar takes control

    It exercises an option for $5.1M, goes from 47.3% to 51.0% and consolidates Redbox.5

  8. Feb
    Product

    The Walmart agreement

    Coinstar agrees with Walmart to expand its DVD kiosks there over 12 to 18 months. More than 3,200 are installed by year end.56

  9. Dec 31
    Corporate

    13,700 kiosks

    DVD services revenue for the year is $388.5M.6

  10. Feb 262009
    Money

    Coinstar buys the rest

    $162.4M in cash and shares for the remaining interests. Redbox becomes a wholly owned subsidiary.7

  11. Jul 17
    Studios & rivals

    Sony signs

    A licence under which Redbox expects to pay Sony about $487.0M over the term.7

  12. Dec 31
    Corporate

    22,400 kiosks

    A net increase of 8,700 in a year. Walmart, Walgreens and McDonald’s account for about 20%, 11% and 9% of Coinstar’s revenue.78

  13. Feb 122010
    Studios & rivals

    The Warner settlement

    Redbox accepts a 28-day delay on Warner titles and drops its lawsuit. Agreements with Universal and Fox the same year carry the same window.78

  14. Jun2011
    Product

    Video games

    Game rentals roll out nationally.9

  15. Oct
    Money

    $1.00 becomes $1.20

    The first rise in the nightly price of a standard DVD.9

  16. Jun 222012
    Studios & rivals

    NCR’s kiosks bought

    Redbox pays NCR $100.0M for its DVD kiosk business, about 6,200 active machines.10

  17. Mar 142013
    Product

    Redbox Instant by Verizon

    The streaming joint venture ends its public beta and launches commercially.11

  18. Dec 31
    Corporate

    Peak: 44,000 kiosks

    Revenue for the year is $1,974.5M on 775.7 million rentals. Coinstar has renamed itself Outerwall.11

  19. Oct 202014
    Product

    Out of streaming

    Redbox withdraws from the joint venture, citing a lower than anticipated subscriber base.12

  20. Dec
    Money

    $1.50 a night

    The DVD price rises by 30 cents and Blu-ray by 50 cents to $2.00.12

  21. Mar 312015
    Corporate

    Canada closed

    The shutdown of Redbox Canada is completed.13

  22. Dec 31
    Money

    Rentals down 18.1%

    587.6 million rentals in the year, against 717.1 million in 2014. Revenue is $1,760.9M.13

  23. Jul 252016
    Money

    Apollo’s offer

    Outerwall agrees to be acquired by funds managed by Apollo affiliates for $52.00 a share, about $1.6 billion including net debt.14

  24. Sep 27
    Corporate

    Taken private

    The tender offer is paid and Outerwall leaves the Nasdaq.15

  25. Oct 222021
    Corporate

    Public again

    Redbox Entertainment Inc. is created by a merger with Seaport Global Acquisition Corp. and trades as RDBX from the next business day.1617

  26. Mar 292022
    Money

    150 jobs cut

    Two weeks later the annual report shows 2021 revenue of $288.5M and a going-concern warning.1817

  27. May 10
    Corporate

    Sale agreed

    Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment will pay 0.087 of a share for each Redbox share.19

  28. Aug 11
    Corporate

    Sale completed

    The buyer assumes $359.9M of debt and signs a new credit agreement with HPS Investment Partners.2022

  29. Sep 292023
    Studios & rivals

    Netflix stops mailing discs

    The DVD-by-mail service that began the shift away from stores ends.35

  30. Apr 192024
    Death & afterlife

    $623.0M loss

    The owner’s annual report for 2023 says there is substantial doubt it can continue and that it is in default on debt and leases.22

  31. Jun 28
    Death & afterlife

    Chapter 11

    Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment files in Delaware, with about $970M of debts and $414M of assets.2526

  32. Jul 10
    Death & afterlife

    Converted to Chapter 7

    Judge Thomas Horan orders liquidation. About 24,000 kiosks and the streaming services are to shut.2628

  33. Apr 232025
    Death & afterlife

    Foreclosure sale

    The date set by HPS, the secured lender, for a sale of collateral including the “Redbox” and “Crackle” trademarks.3233

A red Redbox DVD rental machine standing inside a shop
Jun 2012 A kiosk inside a store.Photo: Elliott R. Plack, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Part 2 of 6

Business

The numbers · Rivals

The money

Seventeen years of filings: the kiosks, the rentals and the debt

Redbox was never a company with its own published accounts for long. The figures come from whoever owned it: Coinstar and Outerwall to 2015, Redbox Entertainment for 2019 to 2021, and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment after that. Nothing was published for 2016 to 2018, and the charts leave those years blank.

The rise and fall, in kiosks

Kiosks at each year end, and at the shutdown. The gap is the private-equity years, for which no figures were published.

020,00040,00060,00020082010201220142016201820202022Jul 20241234020,00040,00060,0002008201220162020Jul 20241234
  1. 2008 · 2008: Coinstar takes control 13,700 DVD kiosks, a count that includes the smaller DVDXpress chain. More than 3,200 are in Walmart stores.6
  2. 2013 · 2013: the peak About 44,000 kiosks in 36,400 locations. Only 300 were added during the year.11
  3. 2021 · 2021: the going-concern warning 38,379 kiosks, and revenue down by two thirds in two years.17
  4. Jul 2024 · July 2024: switched off About 24,000 kiosks were left when the liquidation was ordered.26
Data table
The rise and fall, in kiosks
Year endRedbox kiosks
200813,700
200922,400
201030,200
201135,400
201243,700
201344,000
201442,280
201540,480
2016
2017
2018
201941,420
202040,026
202138,379
202232,000
202327,800
Jul 202424,000
Coinstar and Outerwall 10-Ks for 2008–20156891113; Redbox Entertainment 10-K for 2019–202117; Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment 10-Ks for 2022 and 2023, which give approximate counts as of their filing dates2122; Variety for July 202426. The 2014 figure of 42,280 is the U.S. count restated in the FY2015 report; including Canada it was 43,680.1213

Redbox revenue, 2008–2021

$ millions. No figures were published for 2016–2018.

Data table
Redbox revenue, 2008–2021
PeriodRevenue
2008$388.5M
2009$773.4M
2010$1159.7M
2011$1561.6M
2012$1908.8M
2013$1974.5M
2014$1881.7M
2015$1760.9M
2016n/a
2017n/a
2018n/a
2019$858.4M
2020$546.2M
2021$288.5M
2008 is Coinstar’s DVD services segment, which included DVDXpress6. 2009–2011 are the Redbox segment as shown in the FY2011 10-K9; 2012 and 2013 as shown in the FY2013 10-K11; 2014 and 2015 as shown in the FY2015 10-K, which excludes the closed Canadian business13. 2019–2021 are total net revenue of Redbox Entertainment Inc., which also includes its digital business17. See the data notes on changes of basis.

The rental, at the peak and two years later

775.7M
rentals in 2013, the most in any year of the filings11
587.6M
rentals in 2015, after an 18.1% fall in a single year13
$2.54
net revenue per rental in 201311
$2.99
net revenue per rental in 2015, after the price rose to $1.50 a night1312
Outerwall 10-Ks for FY2013 and FY2015.1113 On the FY2015 report’s restated basis, which excludes Canada, 2013 rentals were 772.9 million.

What Coinstar paid for the second half of Redbox

The February 26, 2009 purchase of the remaining interests, $ millions.

$162.4M Total consideration
$113.9M 70%Cash$48.5M 30%Coinstar common stock$113.9M 70%Cash$48.5M 30%Coinstar common stock
  • Cash. Paid to GetAMovie Inc. and other minority holders.
  • Coinstar common stock. Shares issued to the sellers.
Data table
What Coinstar paid for the second half of Redbox
Where it wentAmountShareNote
Cash$113.9M70%Paid to GetAMovie Inc. and other minority holders.
Coinstar common stock$48.5M30%Shares issued to the sellers.
Coinstar FY2009 10-K.7 With the earlier payments of $20.0M, $12.0M and $5.1M, Coinstar paid $199.5M for the whole company (derived).45

The kiosk network, in Blockbusters

44,000Redbox kiosks, end of 2013
=
5 ×Blockbuster stores at its 2004 peak (9,094)

Derived 44,000 ÷ 9,094 = 4.8, shown as 5 stores. Kiosks are from Outerwall’s FY2013 10-K11; Blockbuster’s store count is from its FY2005 10-K36. A kiosk held about 500 to 630 discs31, far fewer than a video store, so this compares points of sale, not size.

Data table
The kiosk network, in Blockbusters
Value
Redbox kiosks, end of 201344,000
Blockbuster stores at its 2004 peak9,094
Ratio5 (derived)
Outerwall FY2013 10-K11; Blockbuster FY2005 10-K36.
The last owner’s books
$359.9Mof debt assumed with Redbox in August 202222
$380.8Mof goodwill and intangible assets written off in 202322
$623.0Mnet loss for 2023, on net revenue of $294.4M22
$970.0Mtotal liabilities on March 31, 2024, three months before the filing23
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment FY2023 10-K and first-quarter 2024 10-Q.2223 These are figures for the whole company, which also owned Crackle and Screen Media, not for Redbox alone.

Three points on the way down

Redbox revenue in its best year, its last normal year and its last full year as a separate company, $ millions.

2013
$1974.5M
The peak, under Coinstar (renamed Outerwall).11
2019
$858.4M
Under Apollo, before the pandemic.17
2021
$288.5M
85% below the peak (derived).17
Data table
Three points on the way down
YearRevenueNote
2013$1974.5MThe peak, under Coinstar (renamed Outerwall).
2019$858.4MUnder Apollo, before the pandemic.
2021$288.5M85% below the peak (derived).
Outerwall FY2013 10-K11; Redbox Entertainment FY2021 10-K17. The two reports define the business differently; see the data notes.

The rivals

The last one renting discs

Redbox was one of the things that finished off the video store. It then outlasted every other way of renting a disc, including the one that had seemed to be the future.

Four ways to rent a disc. None is left.

The businesses Redbox competed with or absorbed, and what became of each.

Redbox

Liquidated 2024
2008: 13,7002023: 27,800
44,000 kiosks At the end of 2013. Shut down on the conversion to Chapter 7 in July 2024.1126

Blockbuster

One franchise left
9,094 stores At the end of 2004.36 Redbox had more points of sale than that by the end of 2008, with 13,700 kiosks.6

NCR’s DVD kiosks

Bought by Redbox, 2012
$100.0M Paid by Redbox in June 2012 for about 6,200 active kiosks, which it replaced or removed.1011

DVDXpress

Bought by Coinstar, 2007
Oct 2007 A smaller kiosk operator. Coinstar had lent it $4.5M by 2006 and acquired it in October 2007.35

Netflix DVD by mail

Ended Sep 29, 2023
2021: $182.3M2023: $82.8M
$82.8M DVD revenue in its last year, down from $182.3M in 2021. The same company’s streaming revenue was $33.6 billion.35
Data table
Four ways to rent a disc. None is left.
CompanyOutcomeHeadline figureNotesSeries
RedboxLiquidated 202444,000 kiosksAt the end of 2013. Shut down on the conversion to Chapter 7 in July 2024.13700, 22400, 30200, 35400, 43700, 44000, 40480, 38379, 27800
BlockbusterOne franchise left9,094 storesAt the end of 2004. Redbox had more points of sale than that by the end of 2008, with 13,700 kiosks.
NCR’s DVD kiosksBought by Redbox, 2012$100.0MPaid by Redbox in June 2012 for about 6,200 active kiosks, which it replaced or removed.
DVDXpressBought by Coinstar, 2007Oct 2007A smaller kiosk operator. Coinstar had lent it $4.5M by 2006 and acquired it in October 2007.
Netflix DVD by mailEnded Sep 29, 2023$82.8MDVD revenue in its last year, down from $182.3M in 2021. The same company’s streaming revenue was $33.6 billion.182.3, 145.7, 82.8
Company filings as cited. Sparklines: Redbox year-end kiosks for 2008–2013, 2015, 2021 and 202368911131722; Netflix DVD revenue 2021–202335.
Kiosks

Redbox, 2021

Revenue
$288.5M
Points of sale
38,379 kiosks
Ended
July 2024
By mail

Netflix DVD, 2021

Revenue
$182.3M
Points of sale
the post
Ended
September 2023
Redbox Entertainment FY2021 10-K17; Netflix FY2023 10-K35; Variety26. Redbox’s figure includes its digital business.

Part 3 of 6

Brand

Commercials & footage · Brand gallery

Commercials & footage

The red box on television

Redbox advertised mostly on its own kiosks, so there is little classic television to show. What survives is business news from the growth years, two of the company’s own promotions, and local news from the week it was switched off.

News segment · 2009Bloomberg: “Sony To Source Moviews To Redbox Kiosks” (sic) A short Bloomberg report published on July 21, 2009, four days after the Sony licence was signed. The description gives more than 17,000 Redbox machines at the time.737 Watch on YouTube
Interview · 2010CNN Business: “Redbox: We will stream movies” Published on September 3, 2010. Coinstar’s chief executive says Redbox will use its customer base to compete with Netflix’s streaming service. The joint venture that tried it launched in 2013 and Redbox left it in 2014.371112 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 2010“This Halloween, Get Your Gore at Redbox” A promotion published on Redbox’s own YouTube channel on October 19, 2010. We do not know whether it ran on television. Watch on YouTube
Interview · 2011CNN Business: “Redbox: DVDs are not dead” Published on September 12, 2011. The description names Coinstar chief executive Paul Davis and says Redbox will add to its 33,000 kiosks. The count reached about 44,000 two years later and never went higher.3711 Watch on YouTube
Commercial · 2018“Redbox | Date Night” A one-minute spot from Redbox’s own channel, published on December 31, 2018. The channel’s description says it first aired during the 2018 Redbox Bowl, the college football game the company sponsored. Watch on YouTube
News segment · 2024WCNC Charlotte: “Redbox kiosks officially shutting down” A local morning news segment published on July 12, 2024, two days after the case was converted to Chapter 7.26 Watch on YouTube
News segment · 2024ABC4 Utah: “Redbox kiosks turned off after company files for bankruptcy” Published on September 16, 2024, as the machines went dark store by store. Watch on YouTube
Retrospective · 2025“6 months after SHUTDOWN... do Redbox Kiosks STILL work?” A hobbyist’s video published on April 13, 2025, visiting kiosks that had been left powered on. It is one person’s footage, not a source for any figure on this page. Watch on YouTube

Videos are embedded from the services that host them and load only when you press play. YouTube embeds use youtube-nocookie.com. Each video belongs to its uploader or rights holder and is shown here for commentary; we do not host any of the files. Videos are embedded from YouTube and load only when you press play. Publication dates are those shown on YouTube. Statements credited to a video’s description are the uploader’s.

Part 4 of 6

People

People · Press

The people

Who ran it, and who ended it

Roles and dates are from filings and the cited reports. We name only people whose part we could source; the executives who built Redbox inside McDonald’s are not named in the documents we read.

People (8)
Name and roleWhat they didAfterwards
Greg WaringVice president of marketing, 2006

Spoke for Redbox when it was still a McDonald’s subsidiary with 750 machines, and predicted a day when it would be in “the vast majority” of the chain’s more than 13,000 U.S. restaurants.3

Paul DavisChief executive of Coinstar

Named in the published description of a 2011 CNN interview titled “Redbox: DVDs are not dead.” A 2010 interview on the same channel, credited to “the CEO of Coinstar”, is titled “Redbox: We will stream movies.”37

Erik E. PruschChief executive of Outerwall, 2016

Signed the sale to Apollo’s funds and called Apollo “an ideal partner.”14

David SamburPartner, Apollo

Spoke for the buyer in 2016: “We are extremely excited for our funds to acquire Outerwall.”14

Galen C. SmithChief executive of Redbox from 2016

Outerwall’s chief financial officer from 2013 to 2016, having joined in 2009. He led Redbox through the Apollo years and the 2021 listing.17

William J. Rouhana Jr.Chairman and chief executive, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment

Bought Redbox in 2022. The only director left after the controlling shareholder removed the board on June 11, 2024; Variety reported that he stepped down as chief executive on June 24. In his declaration to the court he blamed the lenders’ “refusals” to meet their obligations.2426

Thomas M. HoranJudge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

Converted the case to Chapter 7 on July 10, 2024.26

George L. MillerChapter 7 trustee

Responsible for liquidating the estate, including the proposed sale of its copyright litigation rights.34

The clippings

What they said at the time

Press (8)
There’s over 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. We foresee a day when we’re in the vast majority of those.
Greg Waring, to the Associated Press, April 20063
The home video distribution market is rapidly evolving as newer technologies and distribution channels compete for market share, and we have experienced a secular decline in the physical rental market.
Outerwall Inc., FY2015 annual report, February 201613
  1. Greg Waring, Redbox vice president of marketing, to the Associated Press, April 20063

    We think it’s a tremendous opportunity.
  2. Coinstar, Inc., FY2007 annual report, February 20085

    Our DVD kiosks supply all the functionality of a traditional video rental store, yet occupy an area of less than ten square feet.
  3. Erik E. Prusch, chief executive of Outerwall, July 25, 201614

    Apollo is an ideal partner to support Outerwall’s efforts to continue serving our millions of loyal customers and dedicated retail partners through our unrivaled network of kiosks and automated retail offerings.
  4. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, FY2023 annual report, April 202422

    Since the acquisition, operating results have not met management’s expectations, particularly Redbox’s kiosk rentals, resulting in insufficient cash flows and working capital to operate the business efficiently.
  5. Judge Thomas M. Horan, July 10, 2024, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and quoted in Variety26

    There is no means to continue to pay employees, to pay any bills.
  6. CVS Pharmacy, court filing quoted by Lowpass, July 202429

    Redbox is in bankruptcy, and its case immediately converted to chapter 7. As such, there is no more Redbox ‘business’ to operate.
Paper notice on a kiosk reading This Redbox Kiosk is no longer in service
Dec 2024 A Walgreens notice on a kiosk in Ripon, California.Photo: TaurusEmerald, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Part 5 of 6

Verdict

Cause of death · What if · Afterlife

Cause of death

The autopsy

Tap a cause to see the evidence. The percentages are our editorial weighting. The evidence under each one is sourced.

Cause of death, by editorial weight

One square is one percentage point. The weights are our judgment, not a measurement.

  1. 40%People stopped renting discs
  2. 25%Debt on a shrinking business
  3. 15%No new films to put in the machines
  4. 10%The streaming answer was dropped
  5. 10%The last owner ran out of cash and credit
Data table
Cause of death, by editorial weight
CauseWeight
People stopped renting discs40%
Debt on a shrinking business25%
No new films to put in the machines15%
The streaming answer was dropped10%
The last owner ran out of cash and credit10%

Rentals peaked at 775.7 million in 2013 and were 587.6 million two years later. Outerwall called it “a secular decline in the physical rental market” and listed streaming and video-on-demand first among the risks. Netflix, which had started the move away from stores, stopped mailing discs itself in September 2023.111335

After a $1.6 billion buyout of its parent in 2016, Redbox was carrying $325.4M of debt at the end of 2021 against $288.5M of revenue. The next owner assumed $359.9M and showed $970.0M of liabilities by March 2024. Each owner’s plan needed rentals to recover, and they did not.14172223

A new-release business needs new releases. Revenue fell 36% in 2020 and 47% in 2021 as the pandemic emptied the release schedule. The last owner’s plan was “predicated on a partial return to pre-COVID levels in the number and cadence of theatrical releases,” and by 2024 the studios had cut it off for non-payment.1722

Redbox Instant by Verizon launched commercially in March 2013 and Redbox withdrew nineteen months later, citing “a lower than anticipated subscriber base.” Its later free and on-demand services were not enough to carry the debt.111222

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment stopped paying staff and vendors weeks before it filed, and its lender, HPS, alleged gross mismanagement in court papers. The chairman blamed the lenders. The judge found there was no means to pay employees or bills and ordered liquidation twelve days after the filing.262825

Editorial judgment: the weights are an interpretive model by the Spectre Brands editors, not a measured quantity. The filings document the symptoms. How much each one contributed is a matter of opinion. The allegation of mismanagement is the lender’s and has not, to our knowledge, been ruled on.

The fork in the road

What if…

Three decisions where the story could have gone differently. The “What if” panels are speculation, labeled as such.

What happened

Redbox Instant by Verizon launched commercially on March 14, 2013. Redbox withdrew on October 20, 2014 because of “a lower than anticipated subscriber base.”1112 In 2010 Coinstar’s chief executive had said Redbox would use its customers to compete with Netflix’s streaming service.37

What if speculative

Redbox had tens of thousands of kiosks and the payment cards of the people who used them, which is a customer list most streaming start-ups would have paid for. But it had no content of its own in 2013 and a parent that sold coin counting. Staying in might have bought a small subscription business. It is hard to see it buying a place beside Netflix.

What happened

The kiosk count was about 44,000 at the end of 2013 and still 38,379 at the end of 2021, when revenue was 85% lower (derived).1117

What if speculative

A network cut early to its busiest few thousand locations would have carried far lower service costs and might have run for years as a small cash business, as the last video stores do. That would have required owners who wanted a small business. Outerwall was a listed company and Apollo’s funds had bought the group at a value of $1.6 billion.14

What happened

Redbox warned in April 2022 of substantial doubt about its future and agreed a month later to an all-share sale to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which assumed $359.9M of its debt.171922

What if speculative

Without a buyer Redbox would probably have gone through its own bankruptcy in 2022, two years earlier, with its staff paid and its studio contracts intact. A court-supervised sale then might have left a smaller Redbox trading. Instead its debt went onto a second company and both were liquidated.

Where are they now

The afterlife

Redbox

  1. The name

    For sale

    HPS Investment Partners, the secured lender, was given leave to foreclose on September 6, 2024 and gave notice of a sale on April 23, 2025 of collateral that included “All Trademarks owned by the Debtors, including the marks: ‘Crackle’ and ‘Redbox’.”3233 We could not find a primary source for who bought them, so the present owner of the name is unknown to us. We found no service operating under it.

  2. The kiosks

    Abandoned

    About 24,000 were left where they stood.26 CVS asked the court for leave to remove and dispose of more than 2,500 it called “unwanted machines.”2930 Walgreens said 5,400 kiosks were costing it $184,000 a month in electricity, and removal was put at upwards of $500 each.31 Some retailers taped up their own notices.38

  3. The employees

    Unpaid

    Variety counted 1,033 employees as of late June 2024, out of work without severance or extended benefits. They had not been paid for weeks and had been without health cover since May.2629 The judge said a trustee would look into whether money held in trust for employees had been misused.26

  4. The company

    In liquidation

    The Chapter 7 trustee is George L. Miller. In March 2026 the court approved an agreement on how to share the proceeds if the estate sells its copyright litigation rights, for which a buyer had offered at least $100M in instalments. HPS is owed at least $500M in principal.34

  5. The shareholders

    Wiped out

    Redbox’s public shareholders had received 0.087 of a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment share for each of theirs in 2022.20 That company’s 2023 annual report warned that holders would “likely lose most or all of their investment” if it could not continue.22

  6. The rival by mail

    Also gone

    Netflix stopped its DVD-by-mail service on September 29, 2023, ten months before Redbox was shut down. Its DVD revenue that year was $82.8M, and its streaming revenue $33.6 billion.35

  7. The leftovers

    Still running, unofficially

    For months after the shutdown some kiosks that had never been unplugged went on renting discs, and hobbyists filmed them.37 We have no count of how many, and none are part of a business.

Who has owned the name

From a hamburger chain to a secured lender, by way of coin counting, private equity and a blank-cheque company.

  1. 2002

    McDonald’s Ventures

    Develops the kiosk and tests it in its restaurants.12

  2. Dec 2005

    McDonald’s and Coinstar

    Coinstar buys 47.3%; Redbox becomes a separate company.41

    $20.0M + $12.0M
  3. Jan 2008 – Feb 2009

    Coinstar (Outerwall from 2013)

    Goes to 51.0% for $5.1M, then buys the remainder.5711

    $162.4M
  4. Sep 2016

    Funds managed by Apollo

    Buy all of Outerwall for $52.00 a share and take it private.1415

    $1.6B, whole group
  5. Oct 2021

    Redbox Entertainment Inc.

    Listed on Nasdaq through a merger with Seaport Global Acquisition Corp. Apollo keeps voting control.1617

  6. Aug 2022

    Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment

    All-share merger at 0.087 of a share; $359.9M of debt assumed.2022

    0.087 share per share
  7. Jun – Jul 2024

    Chapter 11, then Chapter 7

    Filed June 28; converted to liquidation July 10.2526

  8. Apr 2025 – today

    Foreclosure sale; buyer not confirmed

    HPS, as collateral agent, schedules a sale of the trademarks. We found no primary record of the buyer and no one using the name.3233

Data table
Who has owned the name
WhenOwnerWhat happenedPrice
2002McDonald’s VenturesDevelops the kiosk and tests it in its restaurants.
Dec 2005McDonald’s and CoinstarCoinstar buys 47.3%; Redbox becomes a separate company.$20.0M + $12.0M
Jan 2008 – Feb 2009Coinstar (Outerwall from 2013)Goes to 51.0% for $5.1M, then buys the remainder.$162.4M
Sep 2016Funds managed by ApolloBuy all of Outerwall for $52.00 a share and take it private.$1.6B, whole group
Oct 2021Redbox Entertainment Inc.Listed on Nasdaq through a merger with Seaport Global Acquisition Corp. Apollo keeps voting control.
Aug 2022Chicken Soup for the Soul EntertainmentAll-share merger at 0.087 of a share; $359.9M of debt assumed.0.087 share per share
Jun – Jul 2024Chapter 11, then Chapter 7Filed June 28; converted to liquidation July 10.
Apr 2025 – todayForeclosure sale; buyer not confirmedHPS, as collateral agent, schedules a sale of the trademarks. We found no primary record of the buyer and no one using the name.
SEC filings, the lender’s notice filed in the bankruptcy case and press, as cited. The price of the 2016 buyout is for all of Outerwall, including Coinstar and ecoATM; no separate price for Redbox was published.

Sources & data notes

Show your work

Primary sources first. Redbox reported through its owners: Coinstar, later Outerwall (CIK 941604), Redbox Entertainment Inc. (CIK 1820201) and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CIK 1679063). SEC filings link to the original text on EDGAR.

  1. Redbox Automated Retail — “The Redbox Concept” and “The History of Redbox”, company fact sheet, undated (it gives 24,900 kiosks, which places it around 2010). Copy hosted by AppliedAntitrust.com.
  2. Nation’s Restaurant News, in Entrepreneur — “Denver-area McD Units Test DVD Rentals”, Jun 4, 2004.
  3. Joshua Freed, Associated Press, in The Honolulu Advertiser — “McDonald’s ventures into DVD rentals”, Apr 30, 2006.
  4. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2006, filed Mar 9, 2007.
  5. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2007, filed Feb 29, 2008.
  6. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2008, filed Feb 26, 2009.
  7. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2009, filed Feb 23, 2010.
  8. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2010, filed Feb 10, 2011.
  9. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2011, filed Feb 9, 2012.
  10. Coinstar, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2012, filed Feb 8, 2013.
  11. Outerwall Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2013, filed Feb 6, 2014.
  12. Outerwall Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2014, filed Feb 5, 2015.
  13. Outerwall Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2015, filed Feb 4, 2016.
  14. Outerwall Inc. — Press release, “Outerwall Enters Into Definitive Merger Agreement to Be Acquired by Certain Funds Managed by Affiliates of Apollo Global Management for $52.00 Per Share in Cash” (8-K Ex. 99.1), Jul 25, 2016.
  15. Outerwall Inc. — Form 8-K, completion of the acquisition, filed Sep 27, 2016.
  16. Redbox Entertainment Inc. — Form 8-K, completion of the business combination with Seaport Global Acquisition Corp., filed Oct 28, 2021.
  17. Redbox Entertainment Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2021, filed Apr 15, 2022.
  18. Redbox Entertainment Inc. — Form 8-K, reduction in force, filed Apr 1, 2022.
  19. Redbox Entertainment Inc. — Form 8-K, merger agreement with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed May 11, 2022.
  20. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. — Form 8-K, completion of the Redbox acquisition, filed Aug 12, 2022.
  21. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2022, filed Mar 31, 2023.
  22. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2023, filed Apr 19, 2024.
  23. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. — Form 10-Q, first quarter 2024, filed May 20, 2024.
  24. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. — Form 8-K, removal of directors, filed Jun 17, 2024.
  25. Associated Press, on WCTV — “Redbox owner files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection”, Jul 2, 2024.
  26. Todd Spangler, Variety — “RIP Redbox: DVD Kiosk-Rental Business Is Shutting Down With Parent’s Bankruptcy Liquidation”, Jul 11, 2024.
  27. CNN Wire, on ABC7 Los Angeles — “Redbox DVD kiosk-rental business shuts down after parent company files for bankruptcy”, Jul 12, 2024.
  28. Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group, on WSOC-TV — “Redbox kiosks to go away; parent company changes from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7”, Jul 11, 2024.
  29. Janko Roettgers, Lowpass — “CVS asks court to let it throw out its Redbox kiosks”, Jul 18, 2024.
  30. Matthew Keys, The Desk — “CVS calls Redbox kiosks ‘unwanted machines,’ complains they’re holding up store remodels”, Jul 18, 2024.
  31. Retail Customer Experience — “Redbox bankruptcy leaves retailers dealing with abandoned kiosks”, Oct 24, 2024, citing a Media Play News report.
  32. HPS Investment Partners, LLC — Notice of Intent to Hold Foreclosure Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale, filed in In re Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, dated Apr 7, 2025. Copy hosted by Deadline.
  33. Dade Hayes, Deadline — “Redbox, Crackle And Other Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment Assets Set For Post-Bankruptcy Auction”, Apr 8, 2025.
  34. Ernesto Van der Sar, TorrentFreak — “Bankruptcy Court Clears Path for $100 Million Sale of Redbox’s Piracy Lawsuit Rights”, Mar 16, 2026.
  35. Netflix, Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2023, filed Jan 26, 2024.
  36. Blockbuster Inc. — Form 10-K, FY2005, filed Mar 15, 2006.
  37. YouTube pages for the embedded videos, read for their titles, dates and descriptions: Bloomberg, Jul 21, 2009; CNN Business, Sep 3, 2010 and Sep 12, 2011; Smokin’ Silicon, Apr 13, 2025.
  38. Wikimedia Commons — Category: Redbox, the source of the photographs, each credited where it appears.
Data notes (9)

Data notes

Editorial: the years: We date the start to 2002, the year Redbox’s own history gives for the concept and the first 12 kiosks.1 An Associated Press report in 2006 said McDonald’s “came up with the idea in 2003”, and the first large test was in Denver in 2004.32 We set the end at 2024, when the last owner’s bankruptcy was converted to a liquidation on July 10.26 The tier is dead because we found no one using the name afterwards; see “Unknown” below. The headquarters, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, is as given by the Associated Press in 2006.3

Derived: Coinstar’s total outlay of $199.5M is $20.0M + $12.0M + $5.1M + $162.4M.457 The 24% fall in rentals from 2013 to 2015 is (775.7 − 587.6) ÷ 775.7; on the FY2015 report’s restated 2013 figure of 772.9 million it is also 24%.1113 The 85% fall in revenue is 1 − 288.5 ÷ 1,974.5, which compares the Redbox segment of 2013 with the whole of Redbox Entertainment Inc. in 2021.1117 44,000 ÷ 9,094 = 4.8.1136 Nineteen months is March 14, 2013 to October 20, 2014, and twelve days is June 28 to July 10, 2024.111226 The declines of 36% and 47% in 2020 and 2021 are the report’s own percentages, rounded.17

Basis changes in the filings: The 2008 kiosk count and revenue are for Coinstar’s DVD services segment, which included the DVDXpress chain.6 Revenue for 2009 was first reported as part of that segment and is shown here as the Redbox segment figure in the FY2011 10-K.9 The FY2015 10-K restated 2013 and 2014 to exclude Canada: on that basis 2013 revenue was $1,967.7M and year-end kiosks were 42,900, against $1,974.5M and 44,000 as first reported, which are the figures we use for the peak.1113 Kiosk counts for 2012 and 2013 exclude machines acquired from NCR that had not yet been replaced.11 Figures for 2019–2021 are for Redbox Entertainment Inc. as a whole.17 The homepage sparkline uses year-end kiosks for 2008–2013, 2015, 2021 and 2023 and ends at zero for the shutdown; it mixes these sources.

Estimates and approximations: The 2022 and 2023 kiosk counts (about 32,000 and about 27,800) are the round figures in the owner’s annual reports, filed in March 2023 and April 2024, not audited year-end counts.2122 The 36,000 at the merger and 27,000 at the filing are from the Associated Press’s reading of the bankruptcy petition and from the first-quarter report.2523 The 24,000 kiosks and 1,033 employees at the conversion are Variety’s figures.26 Walgreens’ $184,000 a month and the $500 removal cost are from a trade report of a court filing we did not read ourselves.31 The $100M for the litigation rights is a minimum under an agreement in principle, not a completed sale.34

Conflicts between sources: The Chapter 11 petition is dated June 28, 2024 by the Associated Press and Variety and June 29 in a CVS court filing quoted by Lowpass; we use June 28.252629 The 2022 deal is valued at $370M by Variety and at about $375M by Deadline and The Desk; the debt taken on is given as $359.9M in the buyer’s annual report and as about $325M or $360M in press reports. We use the annual report.2226333027 Variety’s article twice gives 2020 as the year of the acquisition; the filings show August 11, 2022.20 Press reports give peak kiosk counts of 34,000 to 43,000; the filings give about 44,000 at the end of 2013.272611

Unverified: That HPS Investment Partners itself took ownership of the Redbox and Crackle trademarks at or after the April 2025 sale is stated on Wikipedia without a source we could open, and is unverified. The judge’s remarks at the July 10, 2024 hearing are quoted from Variety, which credits The Wall Street Journal; we did not read the Journal’s report or a transcript.26 The description of the seller in 2009 as McDonald’s is from Redbox’s fact sheet; the filing names GetAMovie Inc. and does not say who owned it.17 The fact sheet’s claim of more than one billion rentals is the company’s.1

Unknown: Kiosk counts, revenue and debt for 2016–2018, when Redbox was privately held. Who bought the Redbox trademarks, and for how much. How many kiosks were removed, scrapped or left running. What creditors and employees will recover. We could not load redbox.com from our network when we tried on October 8, 2026 and could not reach the Internet Archive for a recent capture, so we make no statement about what the domain shows today.

General knowledge: Chapter 11 is the reorganisation chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and Chapter 7 the liquidation chapter. A blank-cheque company, or SPAC, is a listed shell formed to merge with a private business. The Redbox Bowl was a college football bowl game sponsored by the company. Crackle is a free, advertising-supported streaming service.

Images: There are no screenshots of redbox.com on this page because the Internet Archive was refusing our requests when it was written. Photographs are from Wikimedia Commons under the licences given in the captions and gallery credits.38 Drawings are original illustrations, not official assets. The accent red is our approximation of the kiosk colour, matched by eye to the photographs.