Disney offered a 13-year-old $2M to sing in ‘The Lion King’ — 25x his last paycheck. His mom said no

In a 2019 interview with VladTV, which has since gone viral on TikTok, Weaver explained that his mom and manager, Marilyn “Kitty” Haywood, rejected the lump sum in favor of royalties and roughly $100,000 upfront. That decision has since paid out more than the $2 million she walked away from.

“When they offered that deal, it was really just to take this money and go,” Weaver told VladTV at the time. “I think they knew and forecasted that they were gonna make a s— ton of money.”

Why $2 million wasn’t enough

At the time, the $2 million felt enormous. Weaver’s previous biggest payday had been around $80,000 for playing a young Michael Jackson.

“That amount of money to an average middle-class family in Chicago in the early ‘90s … That’s something,” he said.

But Haywood had industry experience. According to Fortune, she had performed with the Chicago group Kitty & the Haywoods and backed Aretha Franklin. She also had a sharp eye for Disney’s business model.

Haywood noticed the studio had a long-standing habit of rereleasing its classic films to new generations of audiences, a pattern that dated back to the 1944 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ reissue. She also saw that Lion King was coming off the back of the commercial successes of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

“She was able to see the playing field and go, ‘Wait a minute, this is gonna make a lot of money over time, so what happens when my son turns 40?’” Weaver recalled to VladTV. “‘Is he still gonna be able to get a check from this when they eventually release this?’”.

At the time, Weaver said Disney wasn’t offering royalty deals to newcomers — only to “established huge pop stars.” Pushing for royalties was a real risk. But if Disney was willing to open with $2 million, Haywood reasoned the film was worth considerably more.

She was right. The 1994 Lion King grossed nearly $988.4 million at the worldwide box office, while the 2019 remake pulled in over $1.65 billion. The franchise has since extended into theme parks, merchandise, video games and more.