The success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop over the weekend proves two things quite solidly: one, Kevin James, all by himself, can bring people out to the theaters and; two, I just can’t predict what moviegoers will watch. I have to admit, when I saw the promos for this one I was pretty much rolling my eyes - but in my defense I only saw the short version.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, James always has been hilarious. The portly comedian first came to widespread public attention when he became TV’s King of Queens, a sitcom which celebrated a nine-year run on network. By any measure, that’s great success.

James next had large on-screen roles in Hitch (2005) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), but he played opposite two mega stars in each case (Will Smith and Adam Sandler, respectively). In Blart, the movie is all about Kevin Smith’s title character. And it’s no wonder - James had a hand in both writing and producing the flick as well as playing the lead role.

The proof is in the numbers: Blart, and James, are big comedy successes. The film grossed $38 million over the weekend, outshining Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino ($26 million) and My Bloody Valentine ($24 million). Early estimates for the film guessed it might make $25 million over the weekend, but it seems that Paul Blart is going to surprise us all.

And Kevin James is suddenly a very high-grossing comedic movie star, which means he’s sure to nab more solo films in the future.