Whitney's 'Comeback Movie' May Be Released Early

Whitney Houston was supposed to make a big-screen comeback in Sparkle, a remake of a 1976 movie loosely based on The Supremes' story. Houston contributed two songs and stars as the mother of three daughters who form a music group, and the New York Post notes that the film is still on track for its original August release date—or perhaps as early as Memorial Day. Pushing the film up "absolutely isn't being done to make money," an apparently straight-faced source tells Radar. "The reasoning is that Whitney's fans will want to see her in this movie, in which she gives a remarkable performance." In other sad movie news, the president of Fox 2000 Pictures tells Vulture that the planned sequel to Waiting to Exhale will move forward without Houston. Who could take Houston's place? The idea of Oprah Winfrey "isn't inconceivable," the president says. (A remake of The Bodyguard is also in the works.)

More Houston news:

• TMZ has a photo of the tub where Houston died. A gravy boat floats at the bottom; the site notes that Houston liked to put olive oil in such containers to keep her skin soft.
• Houston died "broke," an insider tells the Huffington Post. And since she didn't write her big hits, her estate probably won't make much off the inevitable posthumous sales of her music. The New York Daily News adds that Houston spent most of her $100 million fortune on drugs and "high living."
• On his show last night, Bill O'Reilly declared, "Whitney Houston wanted to kill herself. Nobody takes drugs for that long if they want to stay on the planet." Video at left.
• Also last night, Nancy Grace speculated on CNN that there's more to Houston's death than meets the eye. "Who if anyone put [drugs] in her system or gave it to her?" she wondered. "I'd like to know who was around her, who, if anyone, gave her drugs ... and who let her slip, or pushed her, underneath that water? Apparently, no signs of force or trauma to the body. Who let Whitney Houston go under her water?" Video at the Huffington Post.

(More Whitney Houston stories.)