Avengers reassemble and Top Gun flies back - Hollywood studios preview their new movies

Some of the most hotly anticipated films of the next couple of years have been previewed at the annual gathering of the cinema industry, CinemaCon, in Las Vegas this week.

The event gives fans and cinema owners a glimpse of the biggest movies coming down the tracks, with footage and trailers screened there - often before they're posted online.

A-list stars and directors were on hand to give peeks at what to expect.

From the Avengers to Ariana Grande to an AI Val Kilmer, here are some of the main films and what we learned.

Disney showcased the first proper trailer for the long-awaited next Avengers film, Avengers: Doomsday, as the conference closed on Thursday.

The clip gave the first look at Robert Downey Jr - who played Iron Man in 2019's Avengers: Endgame - as the new masked villain, Doctor Doom.

The latest film, out on 18 December, brings together a host of Marvel characters old and new.

The trailer showed a fight between Gambit and Shang-Chi, played by Channing Tatum and Simu Liu respectively, and Patrick Stewart reprising his role as X-Men's Professor Xavier. "Something's coming, something we may not be able to deter," he warns.

Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, appearing before Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, as the Norse god's Mjolnir hammer flies into the former's hands.

On stage, Evans told the CinemaCon crowd: "I said I would only come back if there was a real reason. And in Doomsday, there is a very real reason that these heroes need Steve Rogers."

Tom Cruise is returning for Top Gun 3, Paramount announced.

The follow-up to 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick is "officially in development with a script well under way", Paramount's Josh Greenstein told the convention.

The last film earned $1.5bn at the global box office, giving cinemas a much-needed boost as punters began to return after Covid.

Cruise was at CinemaCon earlier in the week to preview a very different film, Digger, in which he plays a grey-haired oil baron who has to clean up his environmental mess.

Fresh from her Oscar-nominated turn in Wicked, Grande is flexing her comedy muscles in Focker In-Law.

The singer will appear alongside Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro in the latest instalment of the franchise that began with 2000's Meet The Parents.

Where Stiller's character once struggled to impress his girlfriend's father, the latest take will move to the next generation as Grande plays the love interest of Stiller's son. The first trailer was released during CinemaCon and is online.

Christopher Nolan returns this year with his first film since 2023's Oppenheimer, which won the Oscar for best picture.

Adapted from Homer's ancient Greek poem, The Odyssey will star Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya, and Nolan played a key section of the film featuring the Trojan Horse at CinemaCon.

That section hasn't been posted online, but a trailer has previously been released.

"Why The Odyssey? It's a story that has fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years," Nolan said at the event. "It's not a story, but the story. I wanted to grab the exciting opportunity of bringing it to a modern cinema audience."

The stars of Dune, including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa, were on hand to introduce a seven-minute opening scene from the third film in the epic franchise.

So was director Denis Villeneuve, who said Dune: Part III is more of a thriller than the first two instalments. "It's more action-packed, faster-paced, and more emotional," he said.

Variety's reporter at the screening concurred, saying "things get violent, loud and deadly, fast".

A trailer was released last month, and the film will be released on 18 December - yes, the same day as Avengers: Doomsday, setting up a "Dunesday" heavyweight box office battle.

Val Kilmer was cast in As Deep As The Grave before his death last year, but the Top Gun star was never able to shoot his scenes.

So the film-makers have used AI to resurrect him - with the blessing of his family - and have now revealed the results in the first trailer.

It shows him as a Catholic priest at various ages in the American West - ending with Kilmer's digital clone crouching down and somewhat spookily telling a child: "Don't fear the dead, and don't fear me."

The detail and depiction are convincing, but have heightened worries among some in Hollywood about the potential for AI to replace actors on a wider scale.

Amazon MGM Studios' head of film Courtenay Valenti gave fans an update on how preparations for the next era of James Bond are going.

The answer is - slowly.

"I know you're all wondering when we're going to announce who's playing James Bond," she said. "Please know that we're taking the time to do this with care and deep respect. It is the dream of a lifetime for all of us to bring audiences this next chapter, and it's a responsibility we don't take lightly.

"What I can tell you is this: When you pair one of the most beloved franchises in history with a world-class film-making team... you're setting the stage for something that's truly worthy of the Bond legacy. That film is coming, and when the time is right, we'll have much more to share."

The humble marmalade-loving bear is going from strength to strength. After three hit films and a West End musical that reigned at the Olivier Awards last weekend, a fourth big-screen outing was confirmed at CinemaCon.

Details are still scarce, but Studiocanal chief executive Anna Marsh promised that "world-renowned comedy writers" are attached.

Sixteen years after The Social Network, which depicted the birth of Facebook, a sequel will explore the 2021 Facebook leak by whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the previous film, is in the director's chair for The Social Reckoning, with an impressive cast including Mikey Madison, Wunmi Mosaku and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg.

"There isn't a life that Facebook's algorithm hasn't touched, and that influence has shaped everything. So it's time to say more," Sorkin told the event.

The trailer hasn't been publicly released yet, but was played exclusively for an audience at CinemaCon. The film is scheduled for an October release - perfect timing to be in pole position for the next awards season.

Pierce Brosnan starred in 1999 art house caper The Thomas Crown Affair, which itself was a remake of a 1968 film of the same title.

Now, Michael B Jordan - fresh from winning best actor at the Oscars for Sinners - is starring in and directing an updated take on the film for a new generation.

A trailer gave CinemaCon audiences the first glimpse of Jordan in the film alongside co-stars Adria Arjona, Lily Gladstone and Aubrey Plaza.

Comedy legend Mel Brooks took the opportunity to unveil the title for the forthcoming sequel to 1987 Star Wars parody Spaceballs.

Spaceballs: The New One will see the return of several original cast members, including Brooks, George Wyner, Daphne Zuniga and Bill Pullman.

It will also see the comeback of Rick Moranis, who was one of the biggest box office stars of the 1980s and 90s but hasn't appeared in a live-action film for three decades.

The first trailer "spoofed everything from Star Wars to Avatar to Harry Potter", according to Variety's report from the screening.

CinemaCon also launched the first trailer for a film about the tumultuous making of 1976 boxing classic Rocky.

Anthony Ippolito plays a young Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky, and was praised by audience members at the festival for capturing Stallone's posture, mannerisms and speech.

The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us was a box office hit in 2024, even if it's now more remembered for the fall-out between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

Another of Hoover's novels, Verity, is now being adapted as a film starring Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway.

The story follows a struggling writer who is hired to complete the remaining books by an author who suffered a mysterious accident, and whose secret unfinished manuscript could reveal crucial clues.

Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson and Jack Black have made a huge success of the Jumanji franchise over the past decade - and there's another film on the way.

The trio announced that the new film will be called Jumanji: Open World, with Hart saying they are "pumped about being back".

Johnson revealed that the new film uses the same dice as the original 1995 film starring Robin Williams, commenting: "Robin, as we like to say, this one's for you."

Toy Story is onto its fifth instalment and the conference also saw charming footage of Woody and Buzz Lightyear fighting over who can save the toys from digital extinction - in the form of a new threat, Lilypad.

Voice actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen took to the stage in Las Vegas and acknowledged how 30 years had gone by since the first film. "We looked at a video of us doing the first one - we look like our grandchildren," Allen joked.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Johnson (again) and Queen Latifah showcased footage from their forthcoming Disney films, the live action remake of Moana and Ice Age: Boiling Point respectively.

Disney also played clips from The Devil Wears Prada 2, with Meryl Streep reprising her role as ice cold fashion editor Miranda Priestly.

And director Jon Favreau introduced the opening scene of his new movie, the latest Star Wars offering, The Mandalorian and Grogu.