Not all actors still pick up cheques and residuals to this day, and there's only a precious few who get substantial ones some 25 years after the release.
For example, you often hear of how the cast of 'Friends' are still being paid out to this day, but for movies, it's often not the case. One such example is Jason Weaver, the then-child actor who was the singing voice of Simba in Disney's 'The Lion King'.
In a new interview with VladTV, Weaver explained how he was initially offered $2 million by Disney - but turned it down in exchange for a lesser fee plus a cut of royalties. "To a middle-class family in Chicago, that kind of money really is something," Weaver explained.
However, Weaver's mother clocked that it probably made more sense to take royalties - something that Weaver was only offered to established singers. After all, Disney were coming off the back of 'Aladdin' and were re-releasing the likes of 'Snow White' and 'Cinderella'.
Instead, Weaver took a far smaller amount - $100,000 - and negotiated a percentage of the royalties, meaning that he was playing "the long game", in his own words.
While Weaver didn't disclose how much he gets per cheque, it's clearly enough for him to still notice it. Not only that, it's now far, far more than $2 million over time and the royalties of which can then be passed to his children and their children in perpetuity.
The lesson here is when it comes to royalties, always listen to your mother.
