Hit Movies Give Chicken Soup Platforms a Big Boost

Redbox
(Image credit: Redbox)

With new hit movies Avatar: The Way of Water and Creed III available to home viewers, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment said it had its biggest week ever for transactional video-on-demand revenue.

The company’s Redbox kiosks also experienced a 102% increase in rentals for a rolling three-month period, with people checking out titles including John Wick: Chapter 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, Fast X and The Little Mermaid.

Crackle, Redbox and Chicken Soup for the Soul, the company’s streaming platforms, also saw growth, with monthly active uses climbing 50% to 60 million.

Also Read: Chicken Soup for the Soul Launches Crackle Connex Ad-Sales Platform

“We’ve had a record-breaking start to the year driven by what we’ve long expected – big movies are beginning to come back,” CEO William Rouhana Jr. said. “ As the year progresses, we will see even more movie titles come into the pipeline. More movies mean more rentals and more revenue.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul reported a loss of $56.3 million Revenue tripled to $113.6 million, thanks in part to the acquisition of Redbox. The company last month said it was selling $10.8 million in common equity in order to raise working capital.

Rouhana reiterated the company’s guidance for the year of $500 million of revenue and $100 million to $150 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.