Indonesia’s film 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 fastest growing film market in the region and one of the most dynamic in the world.
According to the report, admissions for Indonesian films reached 82 million in 2024 and are expected to exceed 100 million within five years, while annual production is on track to reach 200 theatrical titles by 2028. Local productions accounted for 65% of the domestic box office in 2024, with the top 10 Indonesian titles attracting 33.5 million admissions, well ahead of the 20.1 million entries of imported films. million.
The study notes that Indonesia’s box office rebounded faster than most international markets after the pandemic: revenues increased from less than $75 million in 2020 to $392 million in 2024, surpassing Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Globally, Indonesia ranked ninth in terms of cinema admissions (127 million) and film production (241 feature films) in 2024 – although major markets will only see modest growth or decline.
However, the report highlights a paradox. Indonesia remains deeply undercovered, with just 7.7 screens per million people – well below South Korea, Japan, China and Malaysia – even though the country had 6,600 screens at its peak in the 1980s, compared to just 2,354 today. Most screens are concentrated in Java and Cinema XXI alone controls around 60% of the national total, one of the most dominant single operator positions in the world.
This structural concentration has intensified another problem: the lack of a distribution layer. The report calls this Indonesia’s “missing link.” Producers must negotiate directly with exhibitors, assume all marketing and commercial risks, and rely on first-day performances to guarantee screen time – a system that disadvantages films that build slowly on word of mouth.
Production, for its part, is experiencing a generational change. As long-time dominant studios such as MD Pictures, Starvision Plus and Falcon continue to anchor the market, the report shows the emergence of a new set of leaders. 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 growing rapidly through co-production and co-financing models. Hits such as “Agak Laen”, “Sore”, “Siksa Kubur” and “Pengepungan di Bukit Duri” illustrate the growing creative confidence and audience’s appetite for hybrid genres.
The horror now tops the Indonesian box office. Half of Indonesia’s top 10 films by admissions since 2011 have been horror titles, and recent hits mix horror with comedy or drama, reflecting global trends and expanding the genre’s commercial reach.
The report also emphasizes that cinema remains a cultural foundation. Indonesian film culture dates back to the 1900s, and film habits have historically waxed and waned with the industry’s creative cycles. But affordability remains a major obstacle: When measuring 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 impact of the screen sector is considerable. It contributes $5.1 billion to GDP and supports nearly 400,000 jobs. Every trillion rupees of new investment can produce nearly $900 million in economic output and create nearly 4,000 skilled jobs, positioning cinema not only as a cultural force but also a powerful economic multiplier.
To turn this momentum into long-term stability, the report outlines three priority reforms: modernizing film policy (including replacing censorship with classification and enforcing data transparency), expanding market access through more equitable screen distribution and regional film commissions, and attracting “smart capital” supported by tax cuts and production-based incentives.
