Teenage Wizard Movie has jumped to the $100 million mark in the worldwide box office sales. Which poses a fascinating question: Why did the producers of 500 Days of Summer choose this weekend to open? Surely Potter's box office bonanza comes as no surprise. Did they really think the mopey teens who like 'meaning music' were going to snub Potter for uh, the kid from 3rd Rock? SILLY FOOLS! [ Variety ]

Yes! A new movie named Bad Girls is being described as a cross between Lord of the Flies and Heathers. It's an adaptation of a novel. Bad Girls centers on a wild teenager shipped off to a reform school on a remote Caribbean island. On the island, she and The Others go up against violent drug dealers and killers as they battle their own worst impulses. First step: Kill the Pig! [THR]

Two men have died after a stage being built for Madonna's concert collapsed in Marseilles, France. Worst. Obits. Ever. []

Ed Helms! He does things we enjoy. Hopefully, we'll enjoy his newest movie project Cedar Rapids. Helms will play a sad-sack insurance agent who goes to an industry convention to try to save the jobs of his colleagues. Always the hero, that Helms. [ Variety ]

Kevin Smith has confirmed that Clerks and Chasing Amy will be released on Blu-Ray in November 2009 with a few new surprises. Aw! You guys remember Joey Lawrence Adams? Neither do I. [/Film]

A new painfully good looking young person has been cast in Twilight Eclipse. So, you know, Google images is probably a little strained right now! [ THR ]

Todd Phillips, writer/director of The Hangover, is has been hired by Warner Bros to write a new feature called Staycation. What's it about? We don't know but there's rightful suspicion that it will be a "male-driven-laffer." [ Vairety ]

Fox has tapped portly and lovable John Goodman to star in a new Ben Stiller-produced pilot. [Variety ]

More like solidarity for-never! The Directors union and the Writers union are beefing. Look at this Eff-Off email the head of the DGA sent to the head of SAG. "Of course, these are not normal circumstances "... you've repeatedly, and in my opinion unfraternally, attacked the negotiations and contracts of the DGA and other unions in the press and other public forums. So, in the circumstances, I'm very surprised that you would consider yourself to be in a position to convene an event that requires trust and fraternity to have any chance of success." Good luck on those negotiations, comrades! [ Variety ]

The Minnesota Canvassing Board today announced that Franken's typically self-affirming holiday prophecy has been realized: The satirist defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by a total of 225 votes out of 2.9 million cast, sending him to Washington in just enough time to make the new session of Congress tomorrow.

Coleman's camp stuck a knife in the moving van's tires, meanwhile, arguing that the outgoing senator was treated unfairly and announcing it would file suit Tuesday for the inclusion of 654 absentee ballots left out of the most recent recount. Alas, it's too late; we aren't too keen on opening the door for a Tracy Morgan Congressional campaign either, but a new era has proven that democracy's bells just can't be unrung.

• Democrat wins Minnesota Senate seat in recount [Reuters]

As well as, we guess, no less an American political authority than People, which this morning points us to this update on Franken's Web site:

[Today], the State Canvass Board completes an important step in this recount process: the board will wrap up its challenge review process. At that time, the Franken campaign expects that Al Franken will lead Norm Coleman by between 35 and 50 votes, meaning we will be on track to win the election. To be ahead at this point in the process bolsters what we have said all along: that once all the votes are counted Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota. Today we are more confident than ever that Al Franken will be the winner of this election.

Coleman naturally begs to differ, planning a Supreme Court visit today to challenge 49 votes that his campaign says were double-counted. The AP also has reservations, reporting the Minnesota secretary of state's insistence that "there is no way the board will certify a winner this year" pending its next meeting on Jan. 5. Congress convenes on Jan. 6, meanwhile — plenty of time for Franken to preemptively move into his new office at the Capitol and get a "Presumptive Minnesota Senator Needs Secretary ASAP" ad on Washington DC Craigslist before Coleman or his new colleagues have a chance to overturn the comedian's decision. Many congrats to him.

• Al Franken Claims Decisive Lead in Senate Race [People]

• Naming '08 Minn. Senate winner will take until '09 [AP]

Coleman's narrow margin of victory — 1,210,942 to 1,210,371 (a third-party candidate pulled most of the remaining votes evenly from Coleman and Franken) — would automatically prompt a recount, the results of which won't likely be known until next month. Especially with Franken and his attorneys hovering nearby and the SNL alum on the lookout for anywhere else he can close the gap — starting with conspiracies, natch:

He said his campaign was already looking into reports of irregularities in Minneapolis where some voters had trouble registering, though he wouldn't elaborate.

"We won't know for a little while who won the race, but at the end of the day we will know the voice of the electorate is clearly heard," Franken said. "This has been a long campaign, but it is going to be a little longer before we have a winner."

A brutal feeling to be sure, but look at it this way, Al: Crushing, expensive political defeats like these can only do wonders for your Oscar chances. Get to work!

• Coleman leads Al Franken in Minn. Senate race [AP]

• We're Not All Like Al [YouTube]