Indonesia’s screen industry is entering what a new JAFF Market–Cinepoint study calls a “decisive new phase,” with local films driving attendance, investor confidence rising, and the market outperforming its Southeast Asian peers.
The Film Industry Report 2025 positions the country as both the region’s fastest-growing theatrical market and one of the most dynamic globally.
According to the report, admissions for Indonesian films hit 82 million in 2024 and are projected to surpass 100 million within five years, while annual output is on track to reach 200 theatrical titles by 2028. Local productions commanded 65% of the national box office in 2024, with the top 10 Indonesian titles attracting 33.5 million admissions — far ahead of imported films’ 20.1 million.
The study notes that Indonesia’s box office rebounded faster than most international markets after the pandemic: receipts surged from below $75 million in 2020 to $392 million in 2024, overtaking Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Globally, Indonesia ranked ninth in both cinema admissions (127 million) and film production (241 features) in 2024 — despite major markets registering only modest growth or declines.
Yet the report highlights a paradox. Indonesia remains profoundly underscreened, with just 7.7 screens per million people — far below South Korea, Japan, China and Malaysia — even though the country had 6,600 screens during its 1980s peak, compared to only 2,354 today. Most screens are concentrated in Java, and Cinema XXI alone controls about 60% of the national total, one of the most dominant single-operator positions in the world.
This structural concentration has intensified another issue: the absence of a distributor layer. The report calls this Indonesia’s “missing link.” Producers must negotiate directly with exhibitors, carry all marketing and commercial risk, and rely on first-day performance to secure screen time — a system that disadvantages films that build slowly on word of mouth.
Production, meanwhile, is undergoing a generational shift. While long-dominant studios such as MD Pictures, Starvision Plus and Falcon continue to anchor the market, the report shows a new set of leaders emerging. The Top 10 production houses by number of releases in 2022–2025 listed in the report are: Legacy Pictures, Falcon, MVP Pictures, Starvision Plus, RAPI Films, Pichouse Films, MD Pictures, Visinema 786 Productions and IDN Media.
Many of these companies, the report notes, are scaling rapidly through co-production and co-financing models. Hits such as “Agak Laen,” “Sore,” “Siksa Kubur” and “Pengepungan di Bukit Duri” illustrate rising creative confidence and audience appetite for hybridised genres.
Horror now leads the Indonesian box office outright. Half of the top 10 Indonesian films by admissions since 2011 are horror titles, and recent successes blend horror with comedy or drama, mirroring global trends and widening the genre’s commercial reach.
The report also stresses that filmgoing remains cultural bedrock. Indonesia’s cinema culture dates back to 1900, and moviegoing habits historically rose and fell with the industry’s creative cycles. But affordability remains a major barrier: when measured against GDP per capita, Indonesia ranks as the least affordable cinema market among those compared — even though the average ticket price is only around $3.
Economically, the screen sector’s impact is considerable. It contributes $5.1 billion to GDP and supports nearly 400,000 jobs. Every trillion rupiah in new investment can produce almost $900 million in economic output and create close to 4,000 skilled jobs — positioning film as not just a cultural force but a powerful economic multiplier.
To convert momentum into long-term stability, the report outlines three priority reforms: modernising film policy (including replacing censorship with classification and enforcing data transparency), expanding market access through fairer screen allocation and regional film commissions, and attracting “smart capital” supported by tax rebates and production-based incentives.
variety.com
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