Indonesia’s cinema admissions grew by 14.5% year-on-year to reach 114.5 million in 2023, compared to 100 million the previous year, according to local box office analyst Bicara Box Office. That figure puts the market around 24% below the pre-pandemic figure of 152 million admissions in 2019.
Despite having a slow start to the year, local productions picked up the pace from September onwards and ended 2023 with 53.3 million admissions for a 48% market share, according to Bicara Box Office data.
In 2022, Indonesian films racked up 57 million admissions and a 56.5% market share, a year of fewer Hollywood releases, which also saw the record-breaking success of MD Pictures’ KKN Di Desa Penari, which raked in 9.23 million admissions to become Indonesia’s biggest local film of all time (the film was also re-released in an extended version at the end of 2022 and the two versions combined pulled in more than 10 million admissions).
MD Pictures also produced the top Indonesian film in 2023 – Kimo Stamboel’s horror film Sewu Dino, which drew 4.89 million admissions. Along similar lines to KKN Di Desa Penari, the film is based on Twitter thread that went viral in Indonesia.
According to Bicara Box Office data, Sewu Dino had the highest admissions for the year overall, with Universal’s Fast X coming in second with 4.81 million. However, Universal’s data, while not ranking the film, pegged Fast X admissions slightly higher at 5.1 million.
Indonesia does not provide standard box office data as local cinema chains do not share their numbers. Bicara Box Office uses its own tracking and statistical analysis to extrapolate from data that is available.
In addition to Fast X, US studio films in the year-end top ten included Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, The Nun II, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Indonesian films also set a new record for the number of films surpassing one million admissions in 2023 – 18 films crossed that benchmark, compared to the previous record of 15 in 2019.
Two films released on the last weekend of 2023 – Visinema’s action drama 13 Bombs and MD Pictures’ Layangan Putus: The Movie – also have a shot of passing one million admissions in January 2024.
Other Indonesian films to chart in the year-end top ten included MVP Pictures’ horror thriller The Verge Of Death with 3.3 million admissions and religious dramas Air Mata Di Ujung Sajadah (3.13 million) and 172 Days (2.87 million). Riri Riza’s Petualanga Sherina 2, a sequel to a popular 2000 musical adventure, ranked at number 11 with 2.41 million admissions.
Two other more story-driven local dramas – Wregas Bhanuteja’s Andragogy and Yandy Laurens’ Falling In Love Like In Movies – were solid mid-sized hits, drawing 500k and 600k admissions respectively, suggesting that the market has potential to diversify away from the current reliance on horror films.
