Sony Pictures has reached a new deal that will see King of Queens and Paul Blart: Mall Cop star Kevin James becoming a mixed martial arts fighter.

In the movie, James will play a physics teacher who decides to become an MMA fighter in an attempt to make some money and save the music program and his best friend’s job at the school he works at, which has decided to make some major budget cuts. Before long, James’ character finds himself fighting on the ultimate stage: the UFC.

Mixed Martial Arts has exploded into the spotlight over the last handful of years, and continues to grow at a rapid pace. Movies trying to take advantage of the sport’s popularity have been made, such as Never Back Down and Red Belt, but no comedies (which is what this is assumed to be) yet. It even makes a lot of sense for James to be starring in the movie; the comedic talent has been a huge fan and supporter of the sport and the UFC for a long time now, and getting to play around in that sandbox should be an exciting prospect for him.

Grown Ups
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Rob Schneider
Rated PG-13
Release date: June 25, 2010

If you only see one movie this summer, it would be a smart idea to make it anything other than Grown Ups, the latest film to star Adam Sandler and the usual group of people who seem to rely entirely on Sandler for work.

What rough passes for the plot of the movie is this: A group of friends were all on their grade school basketball team together and won a championship game. Thirty years later, their former coach passes away, and the friends decide to spend a weekend at a cottage on the lake after his funeral. They bring their families, straight from the funeral, and hilarity ensues… right? Not really.

Every single character is a one-trick pony that runs the same joke into the ground repeatedly. Eric (Kevin James) is a family man who tries hard to be a big shot but cannot have a honest conversation about most things. Kurt (Chris Rock) is an emasculated househusband who likes to cook, but only so much that it’s mentioned once early in the film. Marcus (David Spade) is a sex-hungry womanizer. Rob (Rob Schneider) is a new-age dimwit who likes much older women. Then there’s Lenny (Adam Sandler) who’s rich, successful, and great at sports all while being surprisingly humble and down-to-Earth about it all.

Today’s Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is The King of Queens – The Complete Series DVD box set for only $89.99 (that’s 61% off the list price of $232.95).

Note, this deal is only good for today until midnight PST or until supplies last before then, so grab this at a discounted price while you can.

This 27-disc DVD set contains all nine seasons of the CBS television sitcom which ran from 1998 to 2007 and starred comedian Kevin James as Doug Heffernan, a ‘big & tall’ man from Queens, NY, who works as an IPS delivery man (supposed to be like UPS). He lives with his pretty, but brash wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and her quirky elderly dad Arthur (Jerry Stiller – who played George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld). The series was a spin-off from CBS’s mega-hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond and the cast of that show has made appearances on King of Queens. King of Queens also had a great supporting cast, being the launching pad for comedian Patton Oswalt, who played Doug’s lonely nerd of a friend.

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is The King of Queens – The Complete Series DVD boxset for only $93.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $232.95).

This 27-disc DVD set contains all nine seasons of the CBS television sitcom which ran from 1998 to 2007 and starred comedian Kevin James as Doug Heffernan, a ‘big & tall’ man from Queens, NY, who works as an IPS delivery man (supposed to be like UPS). He lives with his pretty, but brash wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and her quirky elderly dad Arthur (Jerry Stiller – who played George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld). The series was a spin-off from CBS’s mega-hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond and the cast of that show has made appearances on King of Queens. King of Queens also had a great supporting cast, being the launching pad for comedian Patton Oswalt, who played Doug’s lonely nerd of a friend.

The discs are housed quite adorably in an IPS truck, with the DVDs coming out through the box, with Doug at the wheel. The extras included audio commentary with Kevin James and series co-creator Michael Weithorn, along with character profiles, a series retrospective, a featurette on the writes of the show, a thanks to the fans, a 200th episode celebration, and a feature on A Day in the Life with Kevin James.