Whitney Houston Sparkles in final movie

Following the untimely death of music legend Whitney Houston in February, anticipation has built around her final movie project: Sparkle.

Due for release in October, Sparkle is about a musical prodigy, played by pop star Jordin Sparks, who struggles to become a star while overcoming family issues.

Set in Detroit during the Motown era in the 1960s, the film tells the story of a family-based girlband. The late Whitney Houston plays the role of Sparkle's mother, Emma.

When Sparkle and her sisters form a girl group, they become an overnight sensation in the Motown music scene, but fame soon becomes challenging and the family begins to fall apart.

Houston was an executive producer of theremake, which had finished filming when she died in Beverly Hills aged 48. The movie was due to serve as a comeback vehicle for Houston, who first burst onto the screen in The Preacher's Wife in 1996.

This will be the first major Hollywood role for American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, who told People magazine in January: "I sang her songs into a hairbrush when I was little."

Other stars in the film include Cee-Lo Green, Curtis Armstrong and Mike Epps.

See stills of Whitney and Jordin in Sparkle below