This week's new movies in the UAE: Blade Runner 2049, The Foreigner, and more

Blade Runner 2049 may have picked up all the hype, but it's not the only movie releasing this week. Here's the pick of the week's new releases

Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049.

Blade Runner 2049

There's no prize for guessing which new release is likely to grab the lion's share of this week's box office takings, as Harrison Ford returns to his iconic role as Deckard in the, 35-years in the making, sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi game changer, Blade Runner. Denis Villeneuve directs this time around, with Scott tasking the executive producer's chair, while Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto and Sylvia Hoeks are among the new cast members joining Ford on set. The movie picks up three decades after the first left off, with an ageing former Blade Runner Deckard holding the vital clue to the mystery Gosling's K, one of a new generation of Blade Runners, is investigating. This summer's not been short of over-hyped movies, but the reviews are in on this one, and for once it looks like the hype may actually be justified.

My Little Pony: The Movie

If you're going to chance releasing a movie on the same weekend as Blade Runner 2049, you'd probably be wise to attempt to attract a totally different audience, and you couldn't get much more polar demographics than those for Denis Villeneuve's bleak future-noir thriller and Jason Thiesson's multi-coloured equine glitterfest. The two movies may have more in common than you first think — both franchises first came into the public consciousness in the early 80s, though whether My Little Pony's core fan base will have remained so loyal into middle age remains to be seen. Emily Blunt and Live Schreiber are among an impressive voice cast, as Twilight Sparkle and her pony friends set out to save their homeland of Equestria from a terrifying existential threat. OK, a temperamental satyr and an embittered unicorn …

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

Back in 2006, one of the biggest box office surprises of the year was failed US presidential candidate Al Gore's environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which sought to lay bare the dangers of global warming, was an unexpected hit, picked up an Oscar, and seemingly even went so far as to have some influence on the environmental strategies of many of the world governments of the day. The new movie takes a look at how far we've come just over 10 years later, and is surprisingly optimistic in parts, though not without some major caveats — not least the recent US withdrawal from the Paris agreements.

The Foreigner

Local favourite Jackie Chan is back in cinemas this weekend as a London businessman driven on a mission of revenge after his teenage daughter is taken from him by an act of terrorism. Rather than his usual kicks'n'quips comedy caper, Chan for once takes on a serious action role here, with Casino Royale director, Martin Campbell, bringing a similarly dark tone to a movie more in the vein of Taken than Kung Fu Yoga. Pierce Brosnan co-stars as a British Intelligence agent with a dark past and a questionable level of trustworthiness.

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