Burt Wonderstone

The big global release this week is the comedy pastiche The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey and Alan Arkin as Las Vegas musicians in a battle between old-school illusions and street-magic stunts. Warm and funny, it's also just as silly as you think it'll be.

In between performances as Macbeth on London's West End stage, James McAvoy has been out promoting his new film Welcome to the Punch, an unusually glossy cop thriller set in East London. The film opens this weekend in the UK. Speaking to Contactmusic, he talks about how making action movies is a breeze, and why he prefers to work in Britain if he has the chance. Until a new X-men movie comes up, that is.

Later this year, McAvoy has the lead role in Filth, based on the notorious Irvine Welsh novel. And another of Welsh's novels looks headed to the big screen: Porno is a 20-years-later sequel to Trainspotting, and word emerged this week that Ewan McGregor is lined up to reprise his role as Renton in the new film, reuniting him with Trainspotting's director Danny Boyle, writer John Hodge and much of the original cast.

The Croods

The premiere of the new DreamWorks animated romp The Croods was held this week in New York, with directors Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders on the red carpet with of the film's characters, a cheeky sloth named Belt. Also joining Belt were DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Gossip Girl Blake Lively's family.

Steve Coogan reteams with director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People) for The Look of Love, a biopic about Paul Raymond, the London property tycoon who owned much of Soho and launched a series of strip clubs and men's magazines. The trailer shows that Winterbottom has recreated the groovy 60s and 70s with plenty of style, and the story looks emotional and involving.

Jason Bateman goes serious in Disconnect, a dramatic thriller about social networking costarring Alexander Skarsgard, Hope Davis, Andrea Riseborough and Max Thieriot. The trailer makes it look dark and very creepy, while never giving away too many details of the plot. It opens in April.

Bling Ring

We also had our first glimpse of Sofia Coppola's new film, The Bling Ring, based on the true story of a group of teens who raided celebrities' homes to steal jewellery, clothes and cash. Starring Emma Watson, Leslie Mann and Gavin Rossdale, the teaser trailer doesn't tell us much, but the film looks unmissable. It opens this summer.

Rich Cline