New Raisin in the Sun Movie Sets Post-Oscar 2008 Airdate on ABC

The ABC adaptation of the 2004 Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun will air on the network on February 25, 2008, the day following its Oscar telecast. The film will reunite director Kenny Leon and the stars of the acclaimed revival—Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan.

Also reprising his stage role is Bill Nunn as Bobo. Also featured in the adaptation are John Stamos as Carl Lindner, Sean Patrick Thomas as George, David Oyelowo as Asagai, Justin Martin as Travis, Ron C. Jones as Willy and Emily Swiss as Priscilla.

A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of three generations of a family living and struggling together under one roof. The Youngers—Mama Rashad, her children Beneatha Lathan and Walter Lee Combs, and his wife Ruth McDonald and their son Travis—live on Chicago's South Side in the 1950s. It is a place in which dreams, like the raisin in the Langston Hughes' poem from which the play takes its title, wither and die if nothing is done with them.

With these leads, the show had a limited engagement at Broadway's Royale Theatre from March 30, 2004, through July 11, 2004. The stage production, directed by Kenny Leon, received mixed reviews, but was a big hit at the box office. Rashad and McDonald won Tony Awards for their performances.

Featuring a screenplay by Paris Qualles, based on Hansberry's original text, the movie will be executive produced by Sony Pictures TV-based producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron aka Storyline Entertainment, Combs' Bad Boy World Wide Entertainment Group and Broadway producers Carl Rumbaugh, Susan Batson and David Binder.