Man who voiced Simba made genius decision to turn down $2 million payday
Topics: Disney, Film and TV
Yasmeen Hamadeh
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Vlad TV / Disney
Topics: Disney, Film and TV
Disney's offering you $2 million straight up, what's the first thing you think of doing? Apparently for Jason Weaver, it's refusing it all together.
The incredibly talented singer who performed as young Simba in The Lion King, Weaver is the voice behind Disney hits like "Hakuna Matata" and "I Just Can't Wait to be King."
When he got the role, Weaver was offered a flat rate of $2 million, which is a lot of money and was even more money back in 1994 when the film was made.
While it seems to be an offer that's hard to refuse, Weaver actually turned down Disney's rate and followed his mother's advice and negotiated a royalties deal instead.
"I remember it was like $2 million," Weaver told Vlad TV in 2019.
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"You gotta remember, they're coming off of Beauty and the Beast. They're coming off of Aladdin. Disney had bread.
"That amount of money to an average middle class family in Chicago in the early '90s, that's something," he continued.
"But immediately my mom goes, 'Wait a minute, OK, if they're willing to do that…that's it, that's all he'll ever get, for the remainder of his life?'
"They were like, 'That's it, he takes the money, that's it,' she was like, 'No, let's negotiate royalties.'"
In hindsight, Weaver's mom was completely right and their big gamble to turn down the offer ended up working immensely in their favor.
Although the singer ended up getting paid $100,000 upfront for his role, the money off of royalties he's made since then have more than made up for turning down the offer.
"Disney had a reputation for re-releasing stuff. I think at that time they had put out Sleeping Beauty and some of their old catalog from when Walt Disney was alive.
"They were releasing that stuff when they were releasing the new Disney stuff, so [his mom] was able to see the playing field and go, 'Wait a minute, this is going to make a lot of money over time, so what happens when my son turns 40? Is he going to be able to get a cheque for this when they eventually re-release this?'"
Although Weaver didn't reveal the exact amount of money he's made off The Lion King, it's safe to assume that it's up high in the six figures with all the re-releases, special editions, and several live-action remakes.
Always listen to your mom, folks.