Audiences heart ‘Paul Blart’

LOS ANGELES – Much like its goofy titular character, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” has defied expectations. The slapstick comedy, which cost a mere $26 million to produce, is speeding toward the $100 million mark following back-to-back weekends atop the box office.

Could this surprise success signal the arrival of Kevin James in Hollywood’s stable of bankable leading comedic actors?

For nine seasons, James served as the lovable master of ceremonies on the CBS sitcom “The King of Queens.” Now, audiences have been filling movie theaters to see 43-year-old James as Paul Blart, a hypoglycemic single father who takes his security-guard job at the West Orange Pavilion Mall in New Jersey way too seriously.

“I think it had so much heart,” said the movie’s casting director, Jeanne McCarthy, who also worked on “Forgetting Sarah Marshall. “I think Kevin James totally has achieved leading-man status. When he was on ‘King of Queens,’ I would watch a ‘King of Queens’ episode over anything else — even when it was syndicated.”

Kung Fu Panda kicks competition’s butt at animation awards

Kung Fu Panda wiped out its competition at the 36th annual Annie Awards, which honours the best in animation.

The DreamWorks Animation film earned kudos as best movie among its 10 trophies, beating out acclaimed front-runners WALL*E and Waltz With Bashir.

It also captured a directing award for John Stevenson and Mark Osborne; writing honours for Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger; animated effects, Le-Ming Lawrence Lee; character animation, James Baxter; and storyboarding, Jen Yuh Nelson.

Dustin Hoffman, who plays the Kung Fu master Shifu, nabbed a voice acting accolade. That didn’t end the film’s awards run — to top it off, Activision’s Kung Fu Panda game won the prize for best video game.