I have a feeling Kevin James will forever be tied to Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Sure, he did nine seasons of “The King of Queens,” but that was a spinoff of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and never out-muscled its birth show. He was in Hitch, but played second fiddle to Will Smith. Paul Blart was his chance to shine and be his own man. It may have looked feeble and unfunny, but the public lapped it up to the tune of over $100 million domestically.

Until the inevitable Paul Blart II, we received word of his next starring moment courtesy of “Variety,” in The Zookeeper.

“Zookeeper, penned by Jay Scherick and David Ronn, centers on a lonely zookeeper who decides to leave his job because he can’t meet a girl, leading to intervention by the zoo’s animals.”

Zookeeper is to be directed by Frank Coraci (Click).

This will undoubtedly be as big a hit as Paul Blart, I’m sure. The question is whether the studio will let ego overtake them and feel they have a sure-fire hit and put it out in more a of blockbuster month, or will they be content to not have too much competition and continue to hang back in the month of January?

I’ve never seen any episodes of either before, but would you rather see an “Everybody Loves Raymond” film or a “King of Queens” film? To help you decide, here is a clip of each, very much chosen at random: