The Jackson Estate’s war for control continues as ‘Michael’ soars at box office

On The LotThe Jackson Estate’s war for control continues as ‘Michael’ soars at box officeMichael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, claimed a legal win earlier this week in her ongoing dispute against her father’s estate.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Jaafar Jackson attends the "Michael" premiere in Los Angeles.Savion Washington / Getty Images for LionsgateShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 15, 2026, 3:00 PM EDTBy Rebecca KeeganWith Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic set to surpass $600 million at the global box office this weekend, you’d think they’d be popping champagne over at the late music icon’s estate. But a messy dispute between Jackson’s daughter, Paris, and his estate’s executors, entertainment lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain, has taken some of the fizz out of the celebration.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.In “Michael,” which stars Jackson’s nephew Jaafar in the title role, Branca (Miles Teller) is a surprisingly important character, a feathered hair hero fighting for Michael’s artistic autonomy from his controlling father, Joe (Colman Domingo).The portrait of the lawyer emerging from the probate dispute is a far more complex one, however. For months, Paris has been asking a judge to force Branca and McClain into more timely and transparent accounting, and to explain bonus payments the estate has made. A judge has now ruled in Paris’ favor on those issues, calling $625,000 in payments the estate made to three law firms in 2018 “arbitrary” and saying they should be returned, along with “reasonable attorneys fees” to Paris. The $625,000 amount is a drop in the bucket for what is now a multibillion-dollar estate, which, Judge Mitchell Beckloff noted in the ruling, the executors have “transformed from teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in June of 2009 when Michael Jackson died to the financial powerhouse that it is today. But the ruling suggests a tigh...