SPARKLE: Whitney Houston’s Final Film to Be Released in August

Sony pictures has stated that it will release Whitney Houston’s final film “Sparkle” on August 17.

Houston died yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills at the age of 48.

“Like all those who knew and loved her, we are shocked and saddened and the world has lost an incomparable talent. Right now our thoughts are with her daughter, her family and her friends,” said Steve Elzer on behalf of the studio.

Houston had already finished filming on the project, which is a remake of the 1976 movie “Sparkle”, a movie loosely based on the career of the Supremes. The film could have could possibly have been the beginning of a comeback for Houston, who appeared in such ’90s films as “The Bodyguard”, “Waiting to Exhale”, and “The Preacher’s Wife”.

American Idol season six winner Jordin Sparks is playing the title role in the movie. The film tells the story of three sisters who begin singing in a church choir, become a successful girl group, and then must contend with a series of personal issues.

Houston plays the part of the sisters’ not-very-encouraging mother. Mike Epps also appears in the film as a stand-up comic who weds one of the sisters and gets her hooked on drugs.

Mara Brock Akil, who created BET’s hit comedy The Game, wrote the script and her husband Salim Akil, who has helmed every episode of The Game and several episodes of the UPN hit Girlfriends, is directing the new movie.

Houston first appeared on the big screen in 1992′s “The Bodyguard”, starring opposite Kevin Costner. That movie grossed $411 million worldwide and included her famous version of the Dolly Parton-written hit “I Will Always Love You.”