It would’ve made sense for Lionsgate, after underperforming on What to Expect When You’re Expecting, to go right ahead and halt two-year-old plans of adapting Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. No, really.

Instead, Deadline reports that the film — which, I guess, grabbed Reese Witherspoon as its star twixt then and now — will be helmed by Bryan Buckley, a shorts and commercial director with only one prior feature to his credit, that being a 1999 outing named New Jersey Turnpikes. (Lately, however, his efforts have been on every major channel; this is the guy behind, for one thing, those “celebrity Siri” commercials.) It’s expected that he and his team will get down to filming this coming January.

Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan have scripted the film, which, like What to Expect, is basically pre-determined to follow the original book’s outline and fill in all story blanks with various, appropriate situations. It remains to be seen if the studio’s once-held plans to make this a franchise are still intact.

Please, please don’t let Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus become a film franchise.

Is there any way this could actually lead to a strong film, especially with Buckley directing Witherspoon?