Avatar: Fire and Ash debuts to lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the James Cameron sci-fi trilogy

Reviews are in for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the next installment in James Cameron's epic sci-fi movie series – and, so far, it holds the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the franchise.

Fire and Ash sits at 68% with 88 reviews at the time of writing, though expect that to fluctuate as more reviews come in. In contrast, Avatar: The Way of Water sits at 76%, and the original Avatar holds a score of 81%.

Our own Avatar: Fire and Ash review awards the film four-stars, with our verdict reading: "The most action-packed Avatar yet still has the capacity to dazzle, with Oona Chaplin's Varang turning up the heat. Even if a frustrating lack of resolution and some repetitive storytelling choices make this feel more like The Way of Water part 2."

Fire and Ash picks up after the death of Jake Sully and Neytiri's son, Neteyam, in The Way of Water ending – and introduces a terrifying new threat in the form of Varang, leader of the fearsome Ash People, AKA a fire clan called the Mangkwan.

So far, Fire and Ash is tracking to have a big opening weekend, though perhaps not quite as big as The Way of Water. Cameron has already indicated he's willing to walk away from the series if the threequel doesn't make enough money.

"Absolutely," Cameron said previously. "I've been in Avatar land for 20 years. Actually, 30 years, because I wrote it in '95, right, but I wasn't working continuously on it for those first 10 years. There was a brief flurry of interest in '95, and then everybody said, 'You're out of your mind,' and I shelved it for 10 years, and then we got serious in 2005. Yeah, absolutely. Sure, if this is where it ends, cool."

Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives in theaters on December 19. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies for everything else the rest of this year and beyond has in store.