James Cameron left strict instructions on how theaters should play Avatar: Fire and Ash, including a chart with information about audio and framing

James Cameron has left strict instructions for theaters playing Avatar: Fire and Ash in a letter signed off by the director himself.

In a note addressed "Dear Theater Technician," Cameron outlines what employees should be looking out for when exhibiting the movie. "There's a Projection Specification file and framing chart included with the DCP [Digital Cinema Package], with crucial information regarding light levels, audio configuration, proper framing, etc," it reads.

"Please go through it, and make sure your picture and sound systems are calibrated and ready to go. I personally mixed the film responsibly, so that it plays perfectly, with full dynamics between quiet dialogue scenes and big action scenes at the reference standard of 7.0 – please don't set it lower!"

"You are the final, but critically important, part of our team to influence how moviegoers experience AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH," the note concludes. "Thank you again for your dedication!"

Fire and Ash is the follow-up to 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water and sees Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) face a new threat: the Magkwan and their violent leader Varang (Oona Chaplin), who's allied herself with Jake's enemy Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).

Some of the franchise's technical choices, such as the use of high frame rate, continue to be the subject of criticism, but Cameron recently had a straight-to-the-point response. "I think $2.3 billion says you might be wrong on that," he said. "Well, that's the argument from authority. But the argument from artistic is: I happen to like it, and it's my movie."

Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives in theaters on December 19. While we wait, fill out your watchlist for 2026 with our guide to the biggest new movie release dates.