Nicholas Sparks has been doing the weepy chick lit translated to the screen for years now, but he's never been as successful as he is now, with Dear John boasting the honor of dethroning Avatar at the top of the box office, and Miley Cyrus making her grown-up movie debut in The Last Song, also based on a Sparks novel. The guy is like a one-man treacle machine, pumping out novels about lost souls and jilted lovers, most of the mooning about on the North Carolina shore, and all of them destined to be set to a strummy John Mayer-esque song.

It shouldn't surprise you that there's already another coming down the pipeline, and like Dear John, it has a military angle to boot. Variety reports that Shine and The Boys Are Back director Scott Hicks is in talks to direct the film, about Marine who carries a photo of a mysterious woman with him as he serves three tours of duty in Iraq. When he returns home-- to North Carolina, of course-- he sets out to find the woman.

Ever since Shine garned Oscar attention, Hicks has focused on more traditional sentimental stories, and a Sparks adaptation was probably the next logical step. This is one guaranteed to make him a mint, at least, so more power to him.