Indonesian fans of Hollywood films need not worry, theater operators say. New Hollywood blockbusters will be screened here as scheduled.
Concerns have been aired that since the resumption of the supply of Hollywood movies in July, the flow of feature films to the country’s theaters has been little more than a trickle.
Catherine Keng, corporate secretary of Cineplex 21, one of the nation’s largest cinema operators, said Hollywood film distribution was proceeding “smoothly.”
“Some were postponed because we want to first screen several films that could not be screened a while ago,” Catherine said via text message.
She went on to say that most upcoming Hollywood blockbusters would be screened in Indonesia on time.
“ ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ and ‘Breaking Dawn: Part 1’ [of The Twilight Saga] will be screened as scheduled, but ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ will be postponed because the slots for films at the cinema are currently already full,” Catherine said.
Top film studios in the United States launched a boycott of the Indonesian market in February because of a dispute over royalties, but they resumed their exports in July.
Djonny Sjafruddin, who heads the Indonesian Cinema Companies Union (GPBSI), said films from the Motion Picture Association of America were being given screening priority.
“We are prioritizing films from the MPAA so that we are not left behind other countries. American indie films, we will delay,” Djonny said.
The MPAA represents many of the biggest Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros. and Disney.
He said that since the boycott was lifted, movie theaters were beginning to see their incomes return to normal levels.
He also said that although the members of his association remained committed to having Indonesian films account for 60 percent of those screened, the market did not appear to support those efforts.
“There may only be about 5 percent of all national film productions that are capable of drawing the market’s interest,” Djonny said.
He said Indonesian film producers and directors should seek input from public figures as well as from movie theater operators to see what kind of films the country’s movie-goers actually demand.
“Better quality Indonesian films would benefit all sides as national films would be popular among the public,” he said.