JAFF Market & Indonesia’s Booming Industry; Netflix-Warner Bros Deal

Liz Shackleton

06 Dec 2025 — 7 min read

Janur Ireng: Sewu Dino The Prequel

Before we dive into updates on what’s happening in Indonesia, a few thoughts on the Netflix deal to acquire Warner Bros for $83bn, announced yesterday, which happened a lot faster than anyone was anticipating.

Reactions globally have been mixed from it being another nail in the coffin of legacy Hollywood and a huge blow to any hopes of having a competitive playing field in future; to those welcoming a deal that ends years of uncertainty for Warner Bros; and those who are suggesting Netflix may have over-paid. There are also many regulatory hurdles to clear so it’s not a done deal yet.

For the film and TV industries outside of the “West”, at least in Asia, Middle East and Africa, the deal may not have immediate impact in terms of production finance. Warner Bros has recently been focusing more on local-language content in Europe and Latin America and has not been actively producing or commissioning Asian content, at least since the HBO Asia team disbanded a few years ago. The big exception to this is Japan, where Warner Bros has long been involved in producing anime and live-action content, including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and the Rurouni Kenshin series.

It does however raise questions about Korean studio CJ ENM’s deal with Warner Bros, which Streamlined noted as a potential means of finally building a strong competitor to Netflix in the Korean market. Now CJ finds itself in bed with Netflix, despite having its own global production and streaming ambitions, and is presumably hoping for more than simply being a vendor to the all-mighty global player.

For other Asian studios and independent producers, where the deal will hurt most is in the contraction in the number of global distribution platforms, which means one less buyer to sell to for the essential streaming window. Although Warner Bros has not been actively acquiring much Asian content during the past few years of corporate turbulence, there was hope that the studio might finally emerge as another buyer.

And for cinemas across the region there are even bigger concerns that Netflix may start sending Warner Bros movies straight to streaming. Warner Bros still has many tentpole movies that keep cinemas humming – Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was a big hit across multiple Asian territories last year – so sending movies like the next installment in the franchise, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, due in 2027, straight to streaming could be disastrous for theatrical infrastructure.

On the other hand, some theatrical markets in Asia are still expanding (Vietnam & Indonesia) and Zootopia 2’s huge success in China ($368m and counting) proves that there is still a theatrical audience for the right kind of film. Would Netflix really want to leave that money on the table?

JAFF Market In Growth Mode While Indonesian Biz Addresses Structural Problems

As Streamlined noted on social media, JAFF Market (November 29-December 1) was packed and buzzing with all the energy of a young and booming market making it mark in the world. Reminiscent of the early days of Filmart, Indonesian companies were trying to outdo each other with the spectacle of their booths; one had a working slide, while another had an actual airplane. Talks and promotional events were taking place on the booths all day long, which along with activities on the Plaza Stage in the middle of the market, made for a frenetic and ear-splitting experience.

Indonesia’s overall box office may not have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but its local movies are on a roll, reaching a record-breaking 80 million admissions in 2024, while animated film Jumbo became the highest-grossing local film of all time in the first half of 2025 with more than 10 million admissions.

The market slowed in the second half of 2025, with admissions for local films currently at around 70 million, although comedy horror sequel Agak Laen: Mystery Of The Nursing Home was taking off at the box office as JAFF Market was taking place, and has already passed 4 million admissions. There’s also a slew of local films set for release in December, including Kimo Stamboel’s highly-anticipated Janur Ireng, the sequel to 2023 horror hit Sewu Dino, scheduled for December 24.

There are several factors holding back further growth in this market, which were being addressed very openly across several JAFF Market panels. The market remains very under-screened, with just shy of 2,400 screens for a population of 280 million, a legacy of the fact that it was a monopoly during the Suharto era. While dominant chain Cinema XXI now has more competition, we are entering a new era in which investors need to consider whether it's worth the huge capital investment needed for cinema building at a time when streaming is keeping audiences at home in more mature markets.

An over-supply of horror films and overall lack of diversity in local productions is another issue, but one that is being slowly addressed by production companies like Jumbo producer Visinema Group; Imajinari, with its expanding comedy and action slate; and more arthouse-skewing filmmakers with films such as Reza Rahadian’s On Your Lap (Pangku), which picked up awards in Busan and had a successful domestic box office run. It became clear during the market that there’s a slew of Indonesian films set for production and/or release next year (see links roundup below) that appear to show signs of more diversity, with plenty of horror, but also animation, action, thriller, comedy and drama.

Another observation of this year’s JAFF Market is that it’s a great place to catch up with the Indonesian industry, but that attendance from other Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan, increased noticeably this year, which is inevitable considering this market is growing, has a huge population of young, content-hungry consumers and everyone wants to check out the opportunities.

Korean companies including CJ ENM, Showbox and Barunson E&A have long been selling remake rights to Southeast Asia; Japan’s Toei was in town looking for partners for its new international production division; and several new movies were announced with co-production partners including India’s Applause Entertainment, Hong Kong-based Sil Metropole Organization (which has the status of a mainland China state-owned company) and Malaysia’s Skop Productions and Komet Productions.

Streamlined will provide more on all these developments, market analysis and upcoming slates in the updated Streamlined Guide to Indonesia, coming soon (yes along with the long-delayed guides to streaming levies, Vietnam and Philippines updates, and new guides to Thailand, Korean and Japanese producers. I discovered this autumn that festival travel is useful for research but not at all conducive to sitting down and getting the guides done. Several new guides will be published before the end of the year).

JAFF Market takes places along side Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) founded by Garin Nugroho, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The festival started out as a grass roots, community driven initiative to create a space for Southeast Asian cinema and has grown, along with the resurgence of the Indonesian film industry, since the early 2000s.

Both JAFF and JAFF Market take place in Yogyakarta (aka Jogja), a city with a large population of university students, which means packed screenings at the Empire XXI multiplex, as well as strong attendance for the festival’s seminars, masterclasses and pop and classical music concerts. Jogja is not well connected for international flights, but it’s worth the trip, especially if you want to shake off the pessimism of more “developed” markets. The festival wraps tonight and we’ll carry a report on the award winners.

**Agak Laen: Mystery Of The Nursing Home**

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JAFF Market & Indonesia’s Booming Industry; Netflix-Warner Bros Deal

Liz Shackleton

JAFF Market In Growth Mode While Indonesian Biz Addresses Structural Problems

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