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February 15, 2025 | 08:46 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Digital platforms open up the market for high quality Indonesian movies. The movie theater business model disadvantages filmmakers.
THE digital era has ended the dominance of movie theaters as the main channel for the distribution of Indonesian movies. This disruption is an opportunity for filmmakers to break new ground, by producing works that are not always in line with the wishes of the market or investors.
The Indonesian movie industry has long been crowded with horror and slapstick themes, or with productions that hope for success from the physical attractiveness of their movie stars. There are few movies with themes of gender, politics, or social criticism because the market is not promising. But with the growth of online video platforms, producers, directors and screenwriters have more freedom to work.
Movies that do not succeed in theaters now have an alternative way of reaching audiences. The movies Penyalin Cahaya released in English as Photocopier, and Kabut Berduri (Borderless Fog) prove that movies that win recognition at festivals can also succeed in the mass market, because they are shown on online video platforms. These two productions are the Tempo’s Best Movies for 2023 and 2024.
Photocopier, with a plot about a sexual assault, won a Piala Citra award and was shown at the Busan International Film Festival. After it became available on Netflix, the movie was in the top 10 most watched films, with a total global viewing time of 6.92 million hours. Meanwhile, Borderless Fog, a movie about human trafficking on the Malaysian border in Kalimantan, was one of the most popular movies on Netflix in August 2024, with 3.7 million views in the four days after it was released.
There are many other ‘festival class’ movies that have been successful on platforms such as Netflix, Prime or Vidio. This refutes the long-held opinion that movies that express the ideals of their creators do not succeed at the box office. As well as providing a channel for filmmakers to express their idealism, online video platforms offer a business model that is relatively profitable, or at least that reduces losses.
For example, video platforms provide an opportunity for producers and filmmakers to propose film projects. If agreement is reached, the video platform covers the production costs and brings in money for the movie production house. The film is then sold as exclusive or original content on the platform.
Another business model is outright sales. The video platform buys a movie from a production house. If the movie does very well in the market, the digital platform makes a profit many times its outlay, meaning that the market opportunities for films of various genres open up. If the movie is not too successful, the producer does not lose out because their movie has already been sold. Movie production houses also have an opportunity to enter the ‘big pond’ because digital platforms need copious amounts of content. In terms of themes, viewers of online video platforms are usually middle to upper-class people, who tend to be more open-minded.
It is a different story when filmmakers come up against movie theaters. Because of a limited number of screens, movies must wait their turn to be shown in theaters. And this depends on the market potential. It is an open secret that managers of movie theaters in Indonesia are only interested in horror, action or comedy films because themes like this are successful in the mass market. If the number of moviegoers does not reach the target, producers lose money. Therefore, very few movies outside the genres of horror, comics, comedy, or action are shown.
With increasing opportunities, the Indonesian movie industry could grow by producing quality content. The government could support this growth through better regulations, tax breaks, and assistance with promotional efforts. For the art world, such support is more valuable than mere financial injections.
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