“The Longest Ride”, opening this Thursday night, is the 10th Nicholas Sparks romance novel adapted for the screen. Sparks’ previous nine films (released from 1999-2014) have grossed more than $500 million in the U.S. alone. His biggest success was 2004’s “The Notebook”, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Though it only made $81 million, since its release it has been considered by those who care about this stuff the quintissential romantic drama of the 21st century.
Other popular Sparks adapts over the years include 2010’s “Dear John” with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, 2008’s “Nights in Rodanthe” starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere (with a trailer song that was stuck in my head for weeks), and the cult-favorite “A Walk to Remember” (2002) with Mandy Moore. I did actually see “The Last Song” (2010), which starred a pre-romantically involved Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. Greg Kinnear was actually quite good, playing Cyrus’s character’s father.
Last October, Sparks experienced a flame-out, as “The Best of Me”, with James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan, grossed a shockingly low $26 million. But don’t expect the same disappointing results from “The Longest Ride”. Even though there isn’t much star-power – Britt Robertson isn’t a household name quite yet (though that may change after this and “Tomorrowland” in May) and, while Scott Eastwood has a very famous and successful father (heard of Clint?), this is his first major role (and no one’s buying a ticket to see Alan Alda) the timing of this release is perfect, as it’s the only new film of the weekend. Add the fact that many high schools are on Spring Break, so theaters should draw big crowds (mostly female) on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, reigniting the Sparks spark.