Hobbit hobs off the top

Horror film Texas Chainsaw 3D has unexpectedly topped the US box office, ending The Hobbit's three-week reign. The movie, set immediately after the events in Tobe Hooper's classic 1974 slasher picture, made US$23m in its opening weekend, making back its US$20m budget for film company Lionsgate. Texas Chainsaw 3D is the seventh film in the horror franchise, featuring an antagonist called Leatherface, who wears a mask made of human skin. The character was reportedly based on serial killer Ed Gein, who also inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. And speaking of psycho, the public will soon get its first look at the evidence against Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes. Holmes' preliminary hearing begins later today (Mountain Standard Time) and is expected to last all week, according to ABC News. At the end of the hearing, judge William Sylvester will decide if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. The prosecution is expected to present recordings of calls to 911 and approximately 30 hours of video from inside the Century 16 multiplex.

But if you think one shooter is scary, wait until you've heard this gem: unbeknownst to one another, every single member of the office staff at Kelleher Advertising Associates in Kansas City is planning to carry out a workplace shooting spree next Monday, reporters learned last week. According to their independently formulated yet nearly identical plans, the company’s 38 employees will arrive at the office early on the 14th, each carrying a duffel bag containing an assault rifle, handguns, and several hundred rounds of ammunition. At precisely 9am Central Standard Time, as indicated in each of their individual plots, every member of the advertising agency’s staff will simultaneously produce their weapons and open fire on one another. I'm pretty sure things would get really awkward when the entire staff find out that they have the exact same plans and the whole thing turns into an office-wide Hunger Games. Speaking of Hunger Games, influential Wall Street analyst Richard Greenfield of BTIG has weighed in with his 2013 predictions for the media sector, telling his clients that the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire will be the biggest movie of the year and Disney’s The Lone Ranger will be the year’s biggest disappointment. But I'll pass my own judgement once I see it.