As Variety recently reported, Indonesian cinema has achieved a remarkable market reversal, with local films now commanding the dominant box office position over Hollywood imports. But behind those statistics lies a more complex story of creative evolution, strategic risk-taking, and an industry learning to balance local authenticity with global ambitions.
The architects of this transformation — Indonesia’s producers — are now grappling with how to sustain momentum while navigating everything from censorship battles to the challenge of serving 400 ready-to-release films through a distribution system that can only handle 150 annually.
The numbers underline the scale of the shift. Year-to-date admissions in 2025 stand at 55.8 million for local films (63% market share) against 33.4 million for imports (37%), for a total of 89.2 million. That builds on 2024’s 126 million admissions and Cinepoint forecasts of Indonesian films reaching 100 million admissions annually by 2026, with overall growth projected at 10% per year. Film output is expected to rise from 152 titles in 2024 to around 200 by 2028, while screen count, now at 2,200, is projected to reach 2,700 by 2030. Yet per capita admissions remain below 0.5, highlighting the industry’s headroom for growth.
“I believe the key lies in the quality of storytelling and production value, regardless of the genre,” says Edwin Nazir, chair of the Association of Indonesian Film Producers (APROFI). “Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in the release of high-quality Indonesian films. These films have appealed to broader audiences due to their storytelling quality and genre variation, including animation and cross-genre films such as horror-comedy and drama-action.”
Shanty Harmayn, APROFI advisory board member and head of Base Entertainment, points to films like animated hit “Jumbo” and science-fiction love story “Sore” as proof that audiences want more than formula. “There are films for many type of audience. But most important, there are some films that offer something new and pushed boundaries,” she says. She also emphasizes careful release management: “We need to be careful on how many films are being released on the same week, for each film to have the best chance in getting their audience.”
The horror cycle, long a staple of Indonesian cinema, continues but with diminishing returns. “While horror films are still performing well, they are not as strong as last year, and drama films appear to be gaining popularity again,” Nazir notes. Harmayn adds: “There is a cycle of having too many horror films and it creates saturation. But then the cycle is broken with one or two films that pushed the boundaries and offers something fresh, the cycle will start again.”
For Yulia Evina Bhara, head of international relations at APROFI and founder of KawanKawan Media, the central principle is relevancy. “We need to come up with a film that is relevant for both the global and the local market,” she explains. That means targeting Indonesia’s young, digitally native audience. “Gen Z and young millennials are the main audience,” Harmayn stresses. “Stories need to resonate with them and marketing strategies also need to understand how to communicate with them especially in digital media realm.”
Streaming platforms have become crucial as both revenue stream and creative incubator. “Streaming platforms have positively influenced audience movie-viewing habits, benefiting the entire ecosystem,” Nazir says. Harmayn calls them an important secondary channel after theatrical, while Bhara cautions that platforms must support diversity to avoid oversaturation: “If the streamers fail to catch this momentum, I predict that we will plunge into a highly saturated market which could result in the declining trust of the very market that initially waited to explode.”
Distribution, however, remains the structural weak link. “As of mid-year, approximately 400 films were ready for theatrical release; however, Indonesian cinemas are constrained to screening only about 150 films annually due to the limited number of screens available,” Bhara says. Nazir adds that investors are eager for production, “but the industry also needs more players in the distribution and exhibition sectors, since we are still under-screened.”
Producers are clear about the need for government action. “More theatres need to be built, and these theaters need to cater to the need of different kind of market. We need theaters in small towns and big towns alike,” Bhara argues. Nazir calls for consistent policy support: “It’s about time for Indonesia’s film industry to have public production funds, tax incentives or rebate schemes, and other policies that will promote growth.”
On censorship, Nazir notes an encouraging shift: “In the past couple of years, we’ve seen an improvement in how our censorship board views films. They are now focusing more on classification and are more open to dialogue with filmmakers. We need to ensure this positive trend continues so it can fully transform from a censorship body to a classification board.”
Co-production has become a defining strategy. APROFI members are showcasing several international co-productions at the Busan International Film Festival. Harmayn cites “Mothernet,” an Indonesian-language project directed by a Malaysian, shot by a Singaporean cinematographer, and financed with support from Singapore and Taiwan. Bhara’s credits include co-productions “Autobiography,” “Tiger Stripes,” “Whether the Weather Is Fine,” and “The Fox King,” while Nazir highlights collaborations with Korea through IP adaptations and co-financing deals. “We can anticipate more collaborative projects involving various Asian countries in the coming years,” he says.
Investment appetite is rising, but sustainability is the concern. “There are more players in the investment sector, they are looking for projects,” Bhara says. “The challenge is how to keep these investments sustainable. We need to repay the faith of the investors by making sure that film industry is indeed lucrative, so that they don’t lose their faith and invest somewhere else.”
Looking ahead, Bhara defines success as building infrastructure that matches creative ambition. “We can go there by supporting our filmmakers who come up with different and very personal stories; by encouraging international co-productions with other countries to cement our position in global film production; and by making sure that censorship will not take away the brilliance of our filmmakers.”
Harmayn adds: “Build on quality, variety, pushing boundaries and understanding our audience and what is relevant for them.” Nazir underscores the producer’s central role: “Since the industry is driven by content, producers play a crucial role in continuously producing high-quality content that appeals to broader audiences, both locally and internationally.”
As the market data tracked by partnerships like JAFF Market and Cinepoint demonstrates Indonesian cinema’s quantitative success, the producers driving this transformation are focused on qualitative challenges that will determine whether the current boom becomes a sustainable cultural movement. Their concerns extend beyond screen counts and admission figures to fundamental questions about creative freedom, distribution equity, and the kind of stories Indonesian cinema should tell as it claims its place on the global stage.
With 44 influential APROFI members — including Mira Lesmana, Harmayn, Ifa Isfansyah, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Bhara and Nazir — leading this creative evolution, Indonesian cinema’s next chapter promises to be as much about artistic ambition as market dominance.