Why man who voiced Simba in Lion King turned down $2 million and accepted royalties instead (2024)

If you ever need any advice on making a good business decision, Jason Weaver would be a good bloke to talk to - or his mum might be an even better bet.

The actor and singer, 45, has managed to make an absolute killing off the back of his most infamous role which he took on as a teenager - and he's still raking in the big bucks for it all these years later.

He's earned more than a pretty penny thanks to the fact he has a great set of pipes on him, which bigwigs at Disney reckoned sounded perfect for Simba's solos in The Lion King.

Jason was just 13 when he laid down the lead vocals for iconic tracks in the film such as 'I Just Can't Wait to Be King', but although it's a cult classic these days, his classmates at the time weren't too interested at first.

During a recent interview, the voice actor explained: "They were like, ‘What the hell is The Lion King?' They didn’t believe in any way shape or form I would be involved with a Disney film - not a kid from the South Side."

By this point in time, the Lottery Ticket star had bagged small roles in flicks such as The Long Walk Home, while also playing a young Michael Jackson in the TV series The Jacksons: An American Dream.

But a Disney film was a whole different kettle of fish for this kid.

Luckily, Jason had his beloved mother Marilyn 'Kitty' Haywood in his corner, who was was savvy enough to realise that her son needed to milk this opportunity for all it's worth.

Which is why Jason ultimately ended up turning down the offer of a $2 million payday and accepted royalties instead - and this is a decision which really aged well.

However, it doesn't mean that he wasn't worried about walking away from such a huge sum of money which would have been life-changing for his family.

During an interview with Vlad TV back in 2019, the father-of-one explained: "I remember it was like $2 million. Just to sing.

"That amount of money to an average middle class family in Chicago in the early 90s - I mean, that's something.

"You gotta remember, they're coming off of Beauty and the Beast. They're coming off of Aladdin. Disney had bread. That was the thing that struck my mom."

Teenage Jason was ready to sign on the dotted line and become a millionaire overnight, until his mum intervened.

He continued: "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,' and she was like, 'No, let's negotiate royalties'."

For those who don't know, royalties are a recurring payment which you receive in exchange for your continued permission to use your property or copyrighted works - which in this case, was Jason's voice.

And thank god that Marilyn stepped in and whipped out her negotiating skills, as her gamble paid off, tenfold.

Not only would The Lion King win an Oscar for the soundtrack, but it also became a best seller and the highest-grossing animated movie of all time - with the film earning a whopping $978.6 million worldwide as of 2024.

Jason instead received a payment of $100,000 (£80,400) upfront for his part in the 1994 film.

He added: "Disney had a reputation for re-releasing stuff. I think at that time they had put out Sleeping Beauty and some of their old catalogue from when Walt Disney was alive.

"They were releasing that stuff when they were releasing the new Disney stuff, so she [his mum] 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."

Jason's royalties will have easily dwarfed the measly $2 million he was initially offered all those years ago - and although he wouldn't reveal how much he'd raked in from them so far, you can bet it's an absolute sh*t ton of cash.

I guess mother's really do know best, eh?