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鈥淭he Choice,鈥� the latest film based on a novel by author Nicholas Sparks, is now in theaters.

鈥淐hoice鈥� stars Benjamin Walker of 鈥淚n the Heart of the Sea鈥� and 鈥淧oint Break鈥� actress Teresa Palmer. The film tells the story of Travis (Walker), who is working to become a veterinarian, and a woman, Gabby (Palmer), who is a medical student and who moves in next door. The two soon hit it off.

The film co-stars Tom Wilkinson, Alexandra Daddario, Tom Welling, and Maggie Grace.

Critics are far from won over by the film, with calling it 鈥渁 mediocre, well-photographed, undeniably heart-tugging, annoyingly manipulative and dramatically predictable star-crossed romance,鈥� while called it 鈥渢he latest, and quite possibly worst, tissue-thin weepie to issue forth from the Nicholas Sparks page-to-screen assembly line 鈥� 鈥楾he Choice,鈥� which mimics [fellow Sparks movie adaptation] 鈥楾he Notebook鈥� in everything but meaningful conflict, believable characters, style and emotional honesty, is a very unsuccessful story.鈥澛�

Meanwhile, called it 鈥渁lmost repellently synthetic.鈥澛�

鈥淐hoice鈥� is the eleventh movie to be adapted from a Sparks film. What makes these adaptations work?聽

Smart scheduling may be one factor. While Sparks鈥� biggest hit, the 2004 film 鈥淭he Notebook,鈥� came out during the summer, his other highest-grossing films, 2010鈥檚 鈥淒ear John鈥� and 鈥淪afe Haven,鈥� came out around Valentine鈥檚 Day (鈥淗aven鈥� came out on the day itself), most likely the time when audiences would be looking for a romantic film.

(In the last few years, those releasing Sparks movies have no doubt learned to stick to the Valentine鈥檚 Day release time, as the lowest-grossing movies based on Sparks books, 2014鈥檚 鈥淭he Best of Me鈥� and 2015鈥檚 鈥淭he Longest Ride,鈥� came out in October and April, respectively.)

noted the success of 鈥淛ohn鈥� at this release time, calling the movie鈥檚 opening weekend gross 鈥渕uch bigger than expected,鈥� while wrote that 鈥溾�橠ear John鈥� rode a surprisingly strong wave of support.鈥�

What else makes the Sparks movies a success? Female moviegoers. Fritz noted that the opening weekend success of 鈥淛ohn鈥� was due 鈥渁lmost entirely to a single demographic: teen and college-age girls.鈥� The opening weekend crowd was 84 percent female.聽

And what about the stories appeal to audiences? writes that 鈥淪parks鈥檚 formula plays into the viewing public鈥檚 desire for comfortable predictability ... with a twist. In each of his works, Sparks reels you in with the ultimate relatable theme 鈥� love! 鈥� and sprinkles in just enough surprises that no two are ever the same. At this point, seeing a Nicholas Sparks movie is like listening to a remake of an old song: You know all the beats, but it鈥檚 just different enough to keep your attention.鈥澛�

With that release date that鈥檚 close to Valentine鈥檚 Day, if recent history is any indication, 鈥淐hoice鈥� could be another box office hit.