Nick Jonas said The Lion King still makes him cry when he watches it with his 4-year-old daughter, Malti, during a Power Ballad panel at 92NY in New York City on Monday, May 18, 2026.
Jonas appeared on the panel with co-star Paul Rudd and director John Carney, in a discussion moderated by Josh Horowitz. On stage, he singled out the film by name and the effect it has had on him as a parent. "Well, I’ll say there are two scenes in this movie that I’m not in, and they hit me super hard as a father," he said. He added plainly, "when I cry over a movie, it is The Lion King."
He described the experience of sharing films with his daughter as a way to revisit formative moments in his life. "You know, things that I’m getting to watch with my daughter these days and kind of relive some of those experiences, the stories that shaped who I became, and now I’m sharing that with her. It’s a totally special thing to experience," Jonas said.
The specifics Jonas offered on stage underline how the film functions now for him personally: two scenes, viewed through the eyes of a father, still prompt an emotional reaction. He emphasized the persistence of that reaction, saying simply "always" when the conversation turned to which films move him.
Context helps explain why Jonas’ reaction resonates beyond a private moment. The Lion King was released in 1994, won two Academy Awards and the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and went on to spawn a multibillion-dollar franchise. The property inspired a Broadway adaptation, produced two direct-to-video follow-ups, two television series, a photorealistic remake, and a prequel; it is often described as one of Disney’s most acclaimed animated films and draws on themes traced back to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Jonas raised the film while appearing in public to talk about Power Ballad, the project he will next appear in. That turn — promoting a current film while talking about a decades-old animated classic — carried a human friction: the panel was meant to focus on his new work, yet he kept returning to a different story that moves him as a parent. The contrast underlines how private experience can overtake publicity in a public setting.
For Jonas, the emotional pull is not nostalgia alone but a living connection. He and Priyanka Chopra welcomed their daughter Malti in 2022, and the act of watching familiar stories with her has become a way to pass on the narratives that shaped him. On stage at 92NY, he described that exchange — reliving old experiences through a new audience — as "a totally special thing to experience."
The most consequential point Jonas left the audience with was simple: certain films still break through, even when he is standing before a room promoting a different project. The Lion King, he said, is that film for him — the one that makes him cry when he watches it with Malti, and the one he will keep returning to as a parent.
