It's been two years since Paul Blart: Mall Cop was a sleeper hit for Sony, but Kevin James is still a big star with room, apparently, to grow. After all he was second-billed in the ensemble for Grown Ups, which grossed a stupefying $271 million worldwide, and he'll be back this summer with The Zookeeper, another PG-rated comedy like Paul Blart that Sony expects to be another massive hit. And even with that movie's release six months away, James is already planning to team back up with its director, Frank Coraci, to keep the money ball rolling.
According to Deadline, Coraci has been brought on to direct an untitled comedy that will star James as a high school physics teacher who moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter in order to raise the money to save his school's music program. This being a Kevin James comedy, he rises in the ranks to the UFC, and presumably only encounters the kind of physical indignities that cause big belly laughs for the audience, not lasting damage.
Coraci's last film was Click, another surprise hit with James buddy Adam Sandler, and he also teamed up with Sandler for The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer-- basically, he's got exactly the pedigree you're looking for in something like this. And at this point you know whether or not you're going to want to see a Kevin James movie in which he falls down a lot, so make your plans accordingly. The Zookeeper hits theaters July 8 next year, and if it's a hit, expect the MMA movie around the same time in 2012.
According to Deadline, Coraci has been brought on to direct an untitled comedy that will star James as a high school physics teacher who moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter in order to raise the money to save his school's music program. This being a Kevin James comedy, he rises in the ranks to the UFC, and presumably only encounters the kind of physical indignities that cause big belly laughs for the audience, not lasting damage.
Coraci's last film was Click, another surprise hit with James buddy Adam Sandler, and he also teamed up with Sandler for The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer-- basically, he's got exactly the pedigree you're looking for in something like this. And at this point you know whether or not you're going to want to see a Kevin James movie in which he falls down a lot, so make your plans accordingly. The Zookeeper hits theaters July 8 next year, and if it's a hit, expect the MMA movie around the same time in 2012.
Kevin James will walk the red carpet this evening in Sydney Bondi Juntion.
