Avengers: Doomsday to Top Gun 3 - Hollywood studios preview their new films at CinemaCon - BBC

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 back in the Top Gun hot seat

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.

Ariana Grande meets the parents (and grandparents)

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 unveils footage from The Odyssey

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."

Chalamet and Zendaya return for 'action-packed' Dune: Part III

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 resurrected by AI

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."