Nick Jonas said The Lion King still makes him cry, even now that he watches it with his 4-year-old daughter, Malti. The singer and actor made the comment Monday, May 18, 2026, during a Power Ballad panel at 92NY in New York City.
Jonas was onstage with co-star Paul Rudd and director John Carney for an interview with Josh Horowitz, and the conversation turned to movies that still hit hard. Asked about films that stir him emotionally, Jonas said there are two scenes in The Lion King that hit him “super hard” as a father. He added that when he cries over a movie, it is still The Lion King.
For Jonas, the reaction is tied to parenthood as much as to memory. He said he now gets to watch movies with Malti and relive stories that shaped who he became, describing that as a “totally special thing to experience.” Jonas and Priyanka Chopra welcomed Malti in 2022.
The Lion King, released in 1994, remains one of Disney’s most acclaimed animated films and won two Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and later grew into a multibillion-dollar franchise that spans Broadway, television, sequels and a photorealistic remake.
The timing of Jonas’s remarks also keeps attention on his next screen role, since he will next appear in Power Ballad. But the more immediate takeaway was simpler: a childhood movie that once belonged to one generation is now being handed to the next, and for Jonas, it still lands with the same force.
