Beyond the Movie Set: Why Indonesia is the Film Market Everyone will Talk About Next
Authors
Indonesia’s film industry is entering a period of expanding opportunities, where the role of investors both foreign and domestic has the potential to grow far beyond traditional, project-based participation. While investors involvement has historically been more common at the level of single-title financing, current market developments suggest increasing room for deeper and more diversified engagement. Instead of being limited to funding individual productions, investors now have the opportunity to participate across a broader segment of the ecosystem, from business structures and intellectual property ownership to production infrastructure and related creative services.
In this ARMA Update, we unpack the evolving landscape of foreign participation in Indonesia’s film industry and the broader pathways now available for long-term, ecosystem-level investment.
-
Equity Participation in Indonesia Production Companies
Indonesia’s production sector is entering a more mature phase. As a result, involvement is expanding beyond traditional project financing, creating meaningful opportunities for equity participation in local production houses.
Through equity investment, investors can:
- Secure long-term creative and commercial pipelines, gaining influence over multi-title development rather than single projects;
- Strengthen governance and operational capabilities, bringing international standards, financial discipline, and strategic oversight; and
- Gain diversified exposure across multiple projects, enabling more balanced risk and portfolio-based returns.
For foreign investors, this model allows them to add value and contribute their global expertise and structured financing approaches, while supporting Indonesian production companies in scaling into more competitive, professionally managed content enterprises.
Foreign investors, however, must navigate Indonesia’s investment framework carefully. Equity participation generally requires the establishment or conversion of the target entity into a foreign investment company (Perusahaan Penanaman Modal Asing – “PMA”), adherence to minimum capitalisation thresholds, accurate alignment of KBLI classifications for film-related production activities, and the securing of the necessary business licenses. These regulatory steps are critical to ensuring compliant, efficient, and frictionless market entry.
By combining regulatory preparedness with strategic partnership, foreign investors can support stronger corporate governance, improved financing structures, and deeper connectivity with global content markets.
Opportunities in Cinema and Exhibition Expansion
As audience appetite for theatrical content continues to rise, Indonesia’s exhibition sector presents compelling opportunities for strategic investment and innovation. With only around 2,088–2,145 cinema screens nationwide and projections suggesting the market could naturally grow to approximately 2,700 screens by 2030,1 there remains substantial room for expansion, particularly in second tier and high-growth cities where screen density is still low. Annual theatrical demand is also trending upward: Cinema XXI alone recorded 87.1 million admissions in 2024, an increase from 84.3 million in 2023.2
These figures indicate that overall annual ticket sales could climb significantly should the number of screens increase, given that greater availability directly improves audience access and frequency of visits. Investors are therefore well-positioned to support the rollout of new screen infrastructure, introduce premium formats anchored in data-driven audience insights, and develop flexible exhibition models that respond to evolving viewer behaviour. Such participation can meaningfully strengthen Indonesia’s theatrical ecosystem, broaden content access, and create a more supportive environment for both local and international releases.
Investing in Intellectual Property (“IP”) Across Multiple Formats
Beyond film rights alone, Indonesia offers a vast reservoir of untapped intellectual property, spanning novels, webtoons, and other story-driven platforms. For investors, this opens pathways to acquire Indonesian IP for multi-format adaptation and to pursue cross-border co-productions that integrate local storytelling with international production expertise. Successful examples such as “Laskar Pelangi,” which evolved from a best-selling novel into one of Indonesia’s most celebrated films, demonstrate the strong adaptability and commercial longevity of local stories. Similar momentum can be seen in the rise of webtoon-based projects and other story-first IPs that have attracted large, established fanbases. This approach aligns with the IP-led content ecosystems that have flourished in Korea, Japan, and China, and enhances the potential for Indonesian stories to reach wider regional and global audiences.
Strengthening Production Infrastructure and Technical Ecosystems
Indonesia’s production infrastructure continues to mature, creating substantial opportunities for investment across key segments of the filmmaking ecosystem. Growth areas include the development of sound stages and studio facilities, the expansion of post-production, VFX, and animation capabilities, as well as the strengthening of equipment rental and lighting or grip services.
Currently, Indonesia has an estimated 3–5 sound stages for large-scale film and TV productions, but their limited capacity and supporting post-production infrastructure mean they cannot fully accommodate all local and international co-productions simultaneously, forcing many productions to share facilities or wait for slots. By comparison, Thailand has a similar number of sound stages at The Studio Park (5 stages), but with larger-scale facilities, full backlots, and extensive post-production support, enabling multiple high-end projects to run concurrently. This gap highlights clear opportunities for strategic investment to expand studios, post-production, VFX, animation, and technical services, helping elevate technical standards, reduce reliance on overseas facilities, and position Indonesia as a competitive regional production hub.
Conclusion
Indonesia’s evolving film landscape presents a broad range of new opportunities for foreign investors to engage beyond single-project financing. Whether through equity participation, IP development, infrastructure investment, or cinema expansion, the sector now offers multiple avenues to build long-term strategic value.
As investors explore these opportunities, it remains essential to navigate Indonesia’s regulatory framework carefully, particularly for equity involvement, which requires PMA structuring, minimum capital compliance, and accurate business license.
Equally important is ensuring that increased global collaboration continues to uphold the cultural integrity of Indonesian storytelling. When foreign investment supports rather than overshadows local creative voices, it can strengthen authenticity while elevating content to meet global standards.
With balanced regulatory compliance and a commitment to cultural stewardship, foreign participation can play a transformative role in shaping a more dynamic, sustainable, and internationally connected film ecosystem in Indonesia.
- Yohanes Endra, “JAFF Market Perlihatkan Potret Terkini Industri Film Indonesia di Busan bersama Cinepoint,” MataMata.com, accessed 20 November 2025, https://www.matamata.com/life/2025/09/22/145735/jaff-market-perlihatkan-potret-terkini-industri-film-indonesia-di-busan-bersama-cinepoint. ↩
- “Raih Pendapatan Rp57 Triliun di 2024, Cinema XXI Kian Kokoh di Industri Bioskop Indonesia,” Cinema21, accessed 20 November 2025, https://www.cinema21.co.id/id/newsroom/raih-pendapatan-rp57-triliun-di-2024-cinema-xxi-kian-kokoh-di-industri-bioskop-indonesia. ↩
Disclaimer:
This client update is the property of ARMA Law and intended for providing general information and should not be treated as legal advice, nor shall it be relied upon by any party for any circumstance. ARMA Law has no intention to provide a specific legal advice with regard to this client update.
Related Updates
Latest Updates
