With eight of his novels already turned into successful films, Nicholas Sparks could probably write a grocery list that someone would option as a short film. The filmed version of A Walk to Remember is mostly memorable due to Mandy Moore’s presence, but both the book and movie for 2004’s The Notebook has become the stereotypical reference for the successful modern romance, and that’s all you can hope for as a novelist, right? Or is it more important having production companies salivating at the mouth and emptying their pockets to adapt the novelist’s work? It depends on one’s ideals, I suppose.
Sparks’ latest novel, The Longest Ride, won’t be published until September 24, 2013, but Deadline reports Fox 2000 has come out victorious in acquiring the rights to the novel after a heated bidding war, which we reported on previously. When the dust settled, Fox 2000 beat out Warner Bros. and Relativity Media, putting up a cool $5 million for the rights.
Fox 2000’s Elizabeth Gabler couldn’t be more happy, telling Deadline, ““It has been a dream of ours for many years to bring one of Nicholas Sparks’ books to life as a film…This wonderful novel captures the finest elements we seek for our films – an incredible story about love and the strength of the human spirit." Gabler is no stranger to bringing novels to the big screen, having been responsible for Life of Pi and The Devil Wears Prada, among others.
The plot for The Longest Ride intertwines two different love stories, one involving a 90-year-old man who crashes his car into the snow and is left to reminisce about the life he and his late wife shared, and the other about an art history major and a bull rider who ignore their differences for the sake of love.
The film will now move quickly through the production process to successfully make the already agreed-upon release date for Valentine’s Day weekend 2015. The current Sparks adaptation in theaters, Safe Haven, reached third place in its opening weekend, bringing in $21.4 million.
