Rambling Reporter

Mrs. Lynton's Sparkle? Sony's remake of 1976's Sparkle has definitely generated heightened interest following the death of star Whitney Houston. Howard Rosenman, the original's producer and exec producer of the 2012 version, says a novelization was sold six weeks ago to Simon & Schuster. He also is teaming with Joel Schumacher to add five new songs to those by Curtis Mayfield (in the original) and R. Kelly (in the new version) for a full-blown Broadway musical adaptation. Meanwhile, Sony, sensing new potential, sent a lot of notes to director Salim Akil, whose wife, Mara Brock Akil, penned the screenplay. Akil was already near a final cut. When THR's Kim Masters interviewed him for an upcoming episode of KCRW's The Business, she noted that she had heard directives had even come from Sony CEO Michael Lynton's wife, Jamie. Akil's response: "Wow, you have some deep sources there."