The first weekend of May has kicked off the summer movie season, and it's time for a round-up of all the showbiz news!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opened in theaters this weekend, taking in an estimated $114 million at U.S. box offices, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This was the second biggest box office opening weekend of 2023, thus far, but the new movie missed expectations of $120 million. The opening also fell short of the $146 million Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 box office numbers brought in for its opening in 2017 (see "'Guardians Vol.2' Blasts Off With $145 Million Bow").

The screenwriters' strike in Hollywood has just shut down the Blade movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie was set to film in Atlanta in June, but now, the production will restart when the strike is over. This Blade movie had been on hold before, once over the course of the pandemic and a second time when Bassam Tariq bowed out in 2022 (see "'Blade' Loses Director").

The Alien FX series has cast one its leads, according to Deadline. Sydney Chandler, who appeared as Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders in Danny Boyle's Sex Pistols series Pistol, has been signed to the Noah Hawley series. The new series takes place before the time of Signorney Weaver's Ellen Ripley character, and is a prequel to the Alien movie (see "'ALIEN' Series Deets'").

Warner Bros. Pictures dropped a new trailer for Dune: Part Two (see below). This movie continues the story laid out in the 2021 Dune movie, and opens on November 3, 2023 (see "Best in Shows -- 2023").

Warner Bros. Pictures also released the second trailer for the DC's The Flash movie (see below). The Flash stars Erza Miller and brings Michael Keaton back as Batman (see "’The Flash’ Teaser"). This movie opens on June 16, 2023.

BOOM! Studios and Polygon Pictures announced the voice cast for Netflix's Mech Cadets animated series. The cast includes stars like Daniel Dae Kim, Ming-Na Wen, Brandon Soo Hoo, and Debra Wilson. This series was originally announced back in 2021 (see “‘Mech Cadets’ Series”), and is set to begin streaming on August 10, 2023.

For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2's Best in Shows Geek Movie Calendar.  Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.