LOS ANGELES — Whitney Houston is negotiating to return to the big screen in Sony’s remake of the 1976 film Sparkle.

Jordin Sparks will make her feature film debut in the movie. Mike Epps also stars.

Houston hasn’t been in a movie since she traveled to Portland, Maine to make Penny Marshall’s 1996 The Preacher’s Wife. She starred opposite Denzel Washington in that film.

“Sparkle focuses on three sisters who form a musical group and then have to contend with the ups and downs of stardom. Think the Supremes.