Paris Jackson Takes Aim at Michael Jackson Biopic in Latest Challenge to Estate Spending

Paris Jackson says she’s “increasingly concerned” that the work of Michael Jackson’s estate, including the long-anticipated biopic Michael, has been designed to “enrich and aggrandize” her late father’s executors rather than build long-term wealth for the family.

The claims are the latest in a back-and-forth between Paris and the co-executors of Michael’s estate, A&R executive John McClain and lawyer John Branca. Paris brought a petition this summer challenging the estate’s spending on outside attorneys, but a Los Angeles probate referee struck the claims on Nov. 10 — and ordered Paris to refund the estate for its troubles — after finding that the petition improperly sought liability for statements in court that are shielded under legal privilege rules.

Paris is now trying a different tactic to air her grievances, submitting an objection to the estate’s 2021 account statements on Tuesday (Nov. 18) in probate court. The objection alleges the executors have “completely failed to competently invest cash, while at the same time deploying capital only where it had the potential to compensate them personally.”

According to Paris, McClain and Branca have let more than $464 million sit idle because they “do not share in the upside” from long-term investments. She says they’ve “instead focused on funneling as much cash as possible into entertainment-industry related projects,” for which she says the executors have received a 15% commission.

“Paris is increasingly concerned the estate has become the vehicle for John Branca to enrich and aggrandize himself, rather than serve the beneficiaries’ best interests and steadfastly preserve her father’s legacy,” reads the court filing. “Indeed, it appears that Mr. Branca used his position as an executive producer, a role he has never before performed in connection with any dramatic feature film, to cast the sole A-list actor in the production, Miles Teller, to play himself in the upcoming feature biopic Michael.”

This isn’t the first time Paris has publicly criticized Michael, which is set for release in April 2026 after years of setbacks and delays. In a series of Instagram posts in September, she said the script had “a lot of inaccuracy” and “full-blown lies.”

The highly anticipated biopic is the latest of the estate’s endeavors to monetize Michael’s intellectual property, including catalog deals, two Cirque du Soleil shows and the Broadway production MJ: The Musical. These efforts have been remarkably lucrative; though Michael died in 2009 with more than $500 million in debt, the estate is now worth $2 billion, according to Branca and McClain, who cited those numbers in responding to Paris’ previous court petition, saying their business strategies have brought “unprecedented success” to the estate.

“The executors did not follow the typical — and most defensible — playbook used by personal representatives of an estate in such dire circumstances, i.e., sell the assets, pay off the debts, put what little was left into the trust, and take substantial statutory fees for their trouble,” wrote the executors on Sept. 15. “Instead, they waived their executors’ fees altogether and bet on their ability to turn the estate around.”

The executors said their legal spending, which Paris had challenged as overinflated, has been integral to accomplishing these goals. They also argued that attorney services are necessary to fight multiple ongoing lawsuits claiming Michael sexually abused children during his life, which the estate vehemently denies.

In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday (Nov. 19), a source close to the estate said the latest objection is “another misguided attempt by Paris Jackson’s attorneys to provide themselves some cover.”

“The fact is Paris Jackson’s lawyers lost their latest case against the estate and have been ordered to pay the estate’s attorneys’ fees,” added the source. “All the beneficiaries are well taken care of by the estate. This is a weak attempt to change the narrative of their loss.”