What's news: The North American box office is sputtering back to life with Spongebob and road rage, new films from Jordan Peele and the Russo bros. are set to film in California, Verizon adds Hulu and ESPN+ to Disney streaming giveaway, the Democratic National Convention kicks off, Ryan Reynolds' big payday. Plus: The text Lorne Michaels sent Maya Rudolph after the Kamala Harris news was announced, and inside Sony's drive-in studio lot experience. --Alex Weprin

 The Return Of The Box Office Numbers

➤ Unhinged and SpongeBob movie mark revival of North American box office. The major circuits in Canada reopened in earnest over the weekend to welcome Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and the Russell Crowe road-rage thriller Unhinged, from Solstice Theaters. They are the first new Hollywood releases to open wide since the pandemic forced cinemas to close their doors in March.

-- "Any way you slice it in my opinion, people did show up and that is a good thing as we have to start somewhere on the road to recovery," one top executive at a rival studio told Pamela McClintock. He cautions that making judgments about grosses is difficult because there are no comparisons in the age of the "new normal."

-- Solstice distribution chief Shari Hardison says that drive-ins made up the biggest portion of the ticket sales for Unhinged. In terms of indoor cinemas, theaters in Canadian suburbs outperformed locations in the major cities. "We always knew this would be a slow burn," says Solstice CEO Mark Gill. The story.

+ Meanwhile in China: Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone cast its spell over the box office in China this weekend, as Hollywood rereleases continue to entice people back to recently reopened cinemas.The 3D, 4K rerelease of the first film in Warner Bros' multi-billion dollar franchise was able to magic up a stellar $13.4 million this weekend, according to local box office consultancy Artisan Gateway. More.

+ Imax has been a big winner in the movie theater reopenings. "Higher-than-usual demand" for Imax screenings of library content amid cinema reopenings in such markets as China "is a potentially solid early indicator of movie-going behavior coming out of the COVID-19 industry shutdown," says B. Riley FBR's Eric Wold in a new research note. More.

➤ Big-budget features from Russo Bros. and Jordan Peele to film in California. The California film commission has announced its latest round of film projects that have been selected to receive tax credits from the state's incentives program. Among the four studio and five indie titles are Joe and Anthony Russo action-thriller Gray Man, Jessica Chastain drama Losing Clementine, Octavia Spencer sci-fi thriller Invasion and an untitled Jordan Peele movie, one of the two films announced as part of his first-look deal with Universal. Here’s the full slate.

➤ Verizon expanding Disney+ giveaway to include Hulu, ESPN+. Disney's full streaming bundle — which includes subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — will now be given away to Verizon customers as part of certain unlimited data plans.The bundle, which normally retails for $12.99 per month, will be included in the Play More Unlimited and Get More Unlimited plans that are part of Verizon's Mix & Match offering for families with four-or-more lines. The details.

➤ Maya Rudolph hasn't gotten the SNL Kamala Harris call yet — but she did get a cryptic text. The triple-Emmy nominee (SNL, The Good Place, Big Mouth shares what former boss Lorne Michaels texted her soon after Joe Biden announced his vice presidential selection in an interview with Michael O’Connell. The interview.

 The DNC Kicks Off

The Democratic National Convention kicks off today. It was supposed to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but, well, you know. Instead, the speeches and official procedures will be streamed online and televised across cable news channels (and in some cases on broadcast TV), culminating with Joe Biden’s acceptance speech. Here’s what’s on the schedule today (all times ET):

--New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will speak in the 9 PM hour, with Michelle Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders scheduled for the 10 PM Hour.

--In related news: Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, will give their first joint interview to ABC anchor David Muir. It will in primetime Sunday at 8 PM.

+ Prefer to skip the political speeches this week? Here’s what else is on TV.

➤ Sony debuts sold-out drive-in experience with masks and memorabilia. The studio kicked off its on-the-lot series with 2010's Grown Ups, accompanied by a Ghostbusters Ecto-1 classic car and plenty of safety precautions. The screenings, which mark the first time a major studio lot has ever been turned into a drive-in, sold out within 24 hours of being announced after scheduling films for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Aug. 14 to Sept. 9. The socially distanced outdoor theater can hold about 75 cars and tickets were sold to the public via Atom Tickets for $30 per car. Here's Kirsten Chuba's report.

In TV news…

➤Lovecraft Country: Inside the HBO horror drama's chilling premiere. THR’s Richard Newby speaks with showrunner Misha Green about the HBO thriller's tone-setting debut, called "Sundown." The interview.

+The Crown: Elizabeth Debicki to play Princess Diana in final seasons. The actress, who stars in Christopher Nolan's upcoming Tenet, described the upcoming role for season five and six as a "true privelege and honour." More.

Obituaries: Linda Manz, also known by her married name Linda Guthrie, an actress in Days of Heaven and Out of the Blue, died Friday, according to a social media post from family members. She was 58… Ash Christian, a producer, actor and director known for Social Animals and Coyote Lake, has died. He was 35...

In other news…

--Liquor giant Diageo is buying Ryan Reynolds’ gin company Aviation American Gin in a deal worth as much as $610 million.

--Hollywood's hottest pandemic trend? It's beekeeping. 

--Taylor Swift is slamming President Donald Trump over his handling of funding for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

--The U.K. live music scene is in a crisis, with more than 400 venues across the country facing financial trouble in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

What else we're reading...

--”The week old Hollywood finally, actually died” [NY Times]

--”Diamond & Silk suggest Fox News executives ‘ordered a hit’ on them” [The Daily Beast]

--”Sports-hungry fans are welcoming live events back to TV” [LA Times]

--”NBA and Turner to provide live chat groups during playoffs” [Sportico]

Today's birthdays: Robert De Niro, 77, Sean Penn, 60, Donnie Wahlberg, 51, Belinda Carlisle, 62, Martha Coolidge, 74.