Whitney Houston Estate Greenlights Biopic I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY

The estate of late singer Whitney Houston has authorized an upcoming biopic titled, I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

A statement from the film's producers describes the film as "a joyous, emotional and heart-breaking celebration of the life and music of the greatest female R&B Pop vocalist of all time, tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom."

Stella Meghie is in talks to direct a screenplay from writer and producer Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody)

McCarten said in a statement, "We are incredibly lucky to have the support and input of many of the key people who knew Whitney the best and who were there at the time, in the making of this film. I am working closely with all of them, to authentically tell the extraordinary story of a peerless talent, taken from us too soon."

With over 170 million combined album, singles and videos sold worldwide during her career with Arista Records, Whitney Houston had established a benchmark for superstardom.

Houston's career has consisted of record-setting achievements in music: the only artist to chart seven consecutive #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love Of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"); the first female artist to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at #1 (her second album, Whitney, 1987); and the only artist with seven consecutive multi-platinum albums (Whitney Houston, Whitney, I'm Your Baby Tonight, The Bodyguard, Waiting To Exhale, and The Preacher's Wife soundtracks, and My Love Is Your Love).

In 1997, she starred in the made-for-television remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. In addition to co-producing, Houston starred in the movie as the Fairy Godmother along with Brandy, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, and Bernadette Peters. An estimated 60 million viewers tuned into the special giving ABC its highest TV ratings in 16 years. The movie received seven Emmy nominations including Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy, while winning Outstanding Art Direction in a Variety, Musical or Comedy Special.

In fact, The Bodyguard soundtrack is one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all-time (at 17x-platinum in the U.S. alone), and Whitney's career-defining version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is the biggest-selling U.S. single of all-time (at 4x-platinum).

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