CinemaCon 2017: Six new films causing a buzz

Hollywood's top studios gathered at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon 2017, previewing titles that will thrill audiences this summer and beyond.

Here are some of the titles guaranteed to create a buzz.

Blade Runner 2049

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Denis Villeneuve's sequel to the Ridley Scott neo-noir classic sees Harrison Ford return in his iconic role as replicant hunter Rick Deckard.

He's joined by Ryan Gosling as LAPD Officer K, who unearths a shattering long-buried secret forcing him to seek out Deckard, who disappeared 30 years earlier. Jared Leto plays the creepy manager of a replicant creation facility.

According to The Independent, audiences were "wowed" with their sneak peek at the film, featuring major action set pieces, "explosions galore" and Ford "running for his dear life".

Release date: October

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Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan's World War II saga focuses on the military evacuation of the French town of Dunkirk in 1940, largely told through the eyes of three soldiers.

It features Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branagh – as well as One Direction's Harry Styles.

Footage at CinemaCon showed Hardy as a fighter pilot in the heat of battle, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Release date: July 2017

Aquaman

This superhero film hasn't even been made yet, but that didn't stop DC Comics from promoting it.

Hours before flying to Australia to begin filming, Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa introduced a video from director James Wan to give a sense of the film's design.

IGN says it looked "truly epic" and was Wan's "grandest undertaking yet", hinting at what he could achieve when working on "the scale of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth saga".

Release date: December 2018

Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence stars as an injured ballerina recruited to become a Russian spy in this Cold War thriller.

Variety reports that producers debuted "a sexy first look" at the film during their time at CinemaCon, with elegant shots of the actor in fur hats and backless dresses and training sequences in a remote mansion.

Variety adds that Charlotte Rampling looks like a "standout" as an emotionally remote spy chief who takes "a special interest" in Lawrence.

Release date: November 2017

Fate of the Furious

One lucky CinemaCon audience was treated to a full screening of the entire new Fast and Furious film, complete with preposterous stunts, wise-cracking humour and ice-cold villain Charlize Theron.

In return, the latest entry in the long-running car-heist franchise received a thumbs-up, with fans tweeting their approval.

Release date: 12 April 2017

The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola's latest drama is a remake of the 1971 Southern gothic film starring Clint Eastwood, based on the Thomas Cullinan book A Painted Devil.

This sultry, eerie tale, starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, is set in a girls' school during the American Civil War, when a wounded Union soldier (Farrell) shatters the insulated world of teachers and pupils.

IndieWire says footage from the "feminist revenge thriller", including a scene of a bloodied Kidman, "stunned" the Las Vegas audience.

Release date: June 2017