Will Anybody See ‘Joe Somebody?’

With no fewer than eight movies going into wide release between Wed- nesday and Christmas Day, the new Tim Allen comedy “Joe Somebody” looks like it could become Joe Nobody at the box office if it gets squeezed.

The 20th Century Fox release opens Friday against Jim Carrey in “The Majestic,” Meg Ryan in “Kate and Leopold,” the animated “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” the hip-hop comedy “How High” and the limited release of “A Beautiful Mind,” starring Russell Crowe. Add to that the fact that “The Lord of the Rings” makes its bow Wednesday and “Ali” arrives Dec. 25 and you see why “Joe Somebody” could get lost.

The advance tracking on the film isn’t great. Late last week, according to industry tracking experts, the film had a 62% awareness rating among potential moviegoers--not a good number with only a week to go before its release. Only 17%--a horrible number--said they had a definite interest in seeing the movie; a mere 1% said it was their first choice of movies they want to see.

Directed by John Pasquin, who also directed Allen in the 1994 blockbuster “The Santa Clause” ($144.8 million) and the 1997 family comedy “Jungle 2 Jungle” ($59.9 million), “Joe Somebody” tells the story of a long-suffering employee who challenges the office bully to a fight after the bully humiliates him in front of his daughter.

Allen, who sprang to stardom on ABC’s long-running sitcom “Home Improvement,” seemed to easily make the jump to movies with “The Santa Clause” and then supplied the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the 1995 animated hit “Toy Story” and its sequel, “Toy Story 2.” His 1999 sci-fi comedy “Galaxy Quest” did well too, grossing $71.6 million. But the comedian has yet to show he can deliver in film after film like Eddie Murphy or Mike Myers.

“If you look at Tim Allen’s track record, it’s quite good,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. “He made over $100 million in his first film out of the gate. That established him as having box-office potential. But he still needs a couple more films to do over $100 million to be in the same league with some of these other comedy actors.”

*

Compiled by Times staff writers