The Sony Pictures remake of the 1976 film, Sparkle will more than likely top the box office the weekend of its August release.

After all, the updated version will feature the late Whitney Houston (1963 — 2012) in her last film role. Houston’s death obviously generated tremendous interest in the movie. It appears that producers are going to capitalize off of that interest by turning 2012 Sparkle into a franchise.

A book will be published days before the film’s debut, and a Broadway play featuring 5 new songs is in the works.

Howard Rosenman, the original’s producer-writer and exec producer of the 2012 version, tells The Hollywood Reporter that a novelization of the movie’s story was sold six weeks ago to Simon & Schuster. The book will be released Aug. 7, 10 days before the film opens.

 

Rosenman revealed that Houston was influenced by the original movie as a girl and once went to see it every day for a week when she was a teenager. It apparently helped plant the dream in her to become a singer. When the new version was coming together, Rosenman brought up the idea to her of playing the girls’ mother — and she loved it. She has two musical numbers in the film and on the soundtrack.

 

Rosenman also is teaming with Joel Schumacher to add five new songs to those by Curtis Mayfield(in the original) and R. Kelly (in the 2012 version) for a full-blown Broadway musical interpretation of Sparkle.

Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.

Are you going to see Sparkle in August?

Will you be reading the book and/or seeing the play?

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