Whitney Houston’s Family Making “Sparkle” Premiere Difficult

07/12/12 12:48am Roger Friedman 1

We’re all looking forward to seeing “Sparkle,” featuring the final work of Whitney Houston. The movie opens from Tri-Star/Sony on Friday, August 17th. It’s all finished, which means it could be screening for critics. And it should have premieres in New York and Los Angeles well before the opening day. But it won’t. So far “Sparkle” has one premiere very tentatively set for Thursday, August 16th in Los Angeles. And “tentatively” is the key word here. According to two sources who don’t even know each other, Whitney Houston’s family has made having a premiere a night mare. The Houstons objected to any date near Whitney’s 49th birthday–August 9th. And that’s just the beginning.

Then there’s the question of who’s coming from the family– will they let Bobbi Kristina bring the so called boyfriend/stepbrother? And will Whitney’s brother Michael and sister in law Donna continue to get short shrift? Will Cissy Houston attend? It’s all still very much up in the air. “I’m surprised they’re having it in Los Angeles, where Whitney died,” says one source. “They should be having it in New York.”

It’s nice to know that nothing has changed in this group. But having a premiere a few days before the opening allows press to circulate through the country. This way, the “Sparkle” red carpet photos, etc, will get lost in the weekend after the movie opens. If this group is smart, they’ll reconsider and have their premiere on the Monday of that week. Lost in all this, of course, are the living stars of the movie like Jordin Sparks and Derek Luke. They might like some attention and a premiere which they can enjoy.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.