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‘Sparkle’ Movie Inspires Upcoming Book Release in August

Sony’s remake of the 1976 musical film Sparkle has definitely generated heightened interest following the death of star Whitney Houston, who plays mom to a group of young girl singers (one played by Jordin Sparks) trying to make it big.

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.

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