Within the early 90s, a million-dollar payday was a giant deal for any actor. The largest stars on the time had been charging $6-8 million per movie. Which means for everybody other than the Bruce Willises and Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the world, a $2-million price for a single movie was a giant deal in 1993. But, when Disney supplied this sum to a 13-year-old with little appearing expertise, he rejected it. And but, ended up making rather more over the subsequent few years. That is the story of Hollywood’s boldest contract negotiation.
The 13-year-old who rejected Disney’s $2-million provide
Jason Weaver started his appearing profession in 1990 with an look on Oprah Winfrey’s 1990 tv sequence Brewster Place on the age of 11. He then performed a younger Michael Jackson within the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream, earlier than discovering his large break because the star of the sitcom Thea. In 1992, he launched his first single – I Wanna Be The place You Are – showcasing his musical expertise. The identical 12 months, he was approached by Disney to be the singing voice of Simba of their formidable animated characteristic, The Lion King.
In an interview with Vlad TV in 2019, Weaver recalled, “I bear in mind it was like $2 million. Simply to sing. That sum of money to a median middle-class household in Chicago within the early 90s – I imply, that is one thing.” Nonetheless, the teen’s mom, Marilyn ‘Kitty’ Haywood, was having none of it. She rejected the provide that may have made most mainstream performers scrambling for the dotted line.
How Kitty Haywood negotiated Hollywood’s boldest contract
Haywood was fearful {that a} one-off fee would imply that although Disney would proceed earning profits off Jason’s songs, her son would by no means see one other dime from the studio. “You gotta bear in mind, they’re coming off of Magnificence and the Beast. They’re coming off of Aladdin. Disney had bread. That was the factor that struck my mother,” the singer recalled within the interview. In the long run, she negotiated a deal of $100,000 down fee with royalties for the remainder of his life. Whereas Weaver has by no means disclosed how a lot he has earned from the deal, on condition that the Lion King soundtrack offered 7 million copies, it needs to be rather a lot. It stays the bestselling film soundtrack within the US even 30 years later. Among the many songs that he lent his voice to was the chartbuster Hakuna Matata, which alone has made him tens of millions.
The movie itself made nearly a billion {dollars} on the field workplace. Trade insiders say that within the three many years since, Weaver has simply made ‘a number of instances extra’ than the $2 million he was being paid, and he has his mom to thank for it.
