Disney Headlines for June 9th, 2026
This past week, the truth finally came out about Hulu.
Also, fans of The BOATHOUSE, Rainforest Café, and T-REX Café are in for a treat.
I’ll explain in this week’s Disney Headlines.
An Interesting Man
I’m quite biased about an entrepreneur named Steven Schussler.
You’d know him as the creator of themed restaurant dining experiences like Rainforest Café. In truth, this chain ultimately defines Schussler’s legacy, even if he’s created several more.
Perhaps no restaurant is more closely associated with tourist traps than this one.
However, Schussler later introduced another one eerily similar to it at Disney Springs.
T-Rex Café recreates the seminal moment in recorded history when the dinosaurs went extinct.
Photo: T-REX CAFE
Every 20 minutes, the floors vibrate, the walls shake, and the ceiling recaps the drama.
It’s quite possibly the most touristy thing I’ve ever seen at a restaurant…and I live by Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
(Matt Stroshane, Photographer)
While these restaurants best define Schussler, he also owns The BOATHOUSE, too.
This restaurant explains my bias, as Schussler once did me and mine a huge favor. Many months before the restaurant opened, I contacted the entrepreneur.
I explained that I was meeting internet friends for the first time after knowing them for a decade.
We’d hoped to dine at The BOATHOUSE, which wasn’t open yet and thereby didn’t take reservations.
Schussler gave my party the restaurant’s first reservation ever…and that’s not all.
When we dined there, he’d made the staff well aware of the significance of our meal.
We were treated like royalty that day, an act of generosity I’ve never forgotten.
Photo: Rainforest
While I’m hypercritical of Rainforest Café, I’m unabashedly a superfan of Schussler.
He’s a business genius but, more importantly, also someone who values human connection. After all, that’s what many communal dining experiences are: shared moments among friends.
Schussler understands this, and it makes him a master of his craft.
The Rainforest Biopic
I’ll toss in that Disney fans and Disney Springs owners alike have cause to love Schussler.
During the most incendiary days of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District fight, Schussler picked a side.
He attended meetings and vigorously argued against the madness of the new government.These situations weren’t at all new to Schussler, who has seen it all.
He wrote a book entitled It’s a Jungle In There about his misadventures as a restaurateur.
Now, CJ Hoke, a writer on Apple TV’s Shrinking, hopes to tell this story.
Photo credit: MealTrip.com
Hoke and Schussler are collaborating on a biopic based on his book.
Deadline indicates that the story will play up the comedic nature of his career. This film “will lean into the “entrepreneurial shenanigans” that became Schussler’s signature, where “imagination often outpaced conventional business logic.”
No studio has committed to the project yet, but I’m unusually confident about this one.
Photo: Facebook/Rainforest Cafe
Schussler is a truly fascinating human being, and Rainforest Café is iconic.
For Disney fans, the movie will present a rare insight into how somehow can become a Disney Springs restaurateur.
Surprise!
Disney+
For years now, Disney has claimed it would keep its streaming services separate.
And for those same years, I’ve been telling you not to believe Disney. The reality is that Disney wants you to subscribe to all three of its streaming services.
Why wouldn’t they? Disney gets three paychecks that way.
Disney+
Still, the driving point of the Disney Bundle is to consolidate your viewing habits.
Disney wants to create a centralized hub where you can do literally everything. This was Bob Iger’s plan a decade ago, finally coming to fruition in 2026.
Disney
However, Josh D’Amaro wants to expand the plan into OneDisney, an even more comprehensive idea. Before that can happen, Disney must get Hulu and Disney+ in the same space.
We tracked the genesis of this in December 2024, when Hulu content propagated to Disney+.
Photo: Disney
More recently, Disney+ enabled the porting of Hulu accounts.
We’re talking about your watchlist, shows you’ve liked, and so forth.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
At this point, you can do pretty much everything Hulu-related you need on Disney+.
While doing this, Disney promised that Hulu would remain distinct. Nobody in the industry believed that because, well, we weren’t born yesterday.
However, Disney executives pushed the idea hard to maintain Hulu’s sovereign status.
Hulu
If Disney had instantly made Hulu a part of Disney+, the revenue stream would have died.
Thus, Disney has walked this awkward tightrope with the Disney Bundle.
Photo:cnet.com
Outwardly, Disney has maintained that they’re two separate services.
Internally, Disney has done everything it can to integrate Hulu on Disney+ . Now, Business Insider has confirmed the truth: Hulu isn’t long for this world.
This Is My Shocked Face
Photo: Disney
Publicly, Disney states that “there are no current plans to sunset” Hulu.
Pinocchio’s nose grows longer after comments like that one. We all know the deal here, as Disney wrote a check for $71 billion in 2019.
Ostensibly, Disney acquired all of Fox’s main media assets, but Hulu was a prize.
Later, Disney paid Comcast $9 billion to own Hulu completely.
So, the company has spent $80 billion at least partially due to gaining full control of Hulu.
Photo: Wikimedia
Therefore, the writing has been on the wall about this move for, well, seven years.
Disney’s next trick will be deleting the Hulu app while keeping Hulu’s individual pricing.
Photo: Disney
This move will take a lot of skill and some extreme marketing prowess.“Pay for an app you no longer use” is a new strategy, even on Wall Street.
You’ll want to watch carefully as Disney attempts its next magic trick. Business Insider believes that Hulu won’t survive into 2027.
Photo: vecteezy.com
So, we’ve got no more than six months left for the standalone app.
At last count, Hulu claimed more than 64 million subscribers. The app’s average revenue per user was $12.20 at last count.
That’s about $781 million in revenue on the line as Disney sunsets Hulu.
Hulu
We’re witnessing a daring attempt here, and I have no idea how well it will work.
Stay tuned, and make sure to check MickeyBlog to find out how well it works.
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Feature photo: Disney
