Another year, another adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks best-seller being greenlit by a major Hollywood movie studio.
I’m being sarcastic, but Sparks’ productions really have been like clockwork, with a new adaptation reaching theaters every couple of years since Luis Mandoki translated Message In a Bottle for the big screen back in 1999. Case in point: Zac Efron headlines Sparks’ The Lucky One, which reaches theaters in April, and Lasse Hallstrom is about to shoot Safe Haven for Relativity Media.
The next Sparks book heading to the big screen will be The Best of Me, the author’s latest bestseller that involves former high-school sweethearts reuniting when they return to their hometown for a funeral. J. Mills Goodloe has been hired to shape a screenplay.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. picked up the distribution rights to Sparks’ novel before the author had even put pen to page. That sounds abnormal, but a similar situation happened with Sparks’ The Last Song, which he wrote specifically so it could be turned into a feature film tailored to pop star Miley Cyrus.
And why wouldn’t a studio gamble on Sparks? He’s a proven commodity at the box office, with movies based on his bestselling books earning a grand total of $359 million at the domestic box alone. They’re also a launch pad for fresh young talent. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling blew up after The Notebook. CinemaBlend favorite Channing Tatum turned heads in Dear John. Cyrus’ Last Song co-star Liam Hemsworth can next be seen in The Hunger Games. And veteran actors like Richard Gere and Diane Lane lend weight to adaptations like Nights in Rodanthe.
So get ready for plenty of Sparks at the local multiplexes. And if experience has taught us anything, bring tissues.
