Horror could provide Taiwanese producers with their clearest route into Indonesia’s expanding screen market, according to a K7 Media study presented by Trang Nguyen at Taiwan Creative Content Fest in Taipei.

The genre offers established audience demand, a record of successful local productions and recent evidence of cross-border potential. The presentation identified “The Rope Curse 4” as a recent collaboration between Taiwan and Indonesia, while also pointing to opportunities involving remakes, intellectual-property adaptations and finished-program sales.

Indonesia’s scale makes that opening significant. The country is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and biggest film market, generating $352.9 million in box office revenue in 2025, based on figures from PwC, Box Office Mojo and CJ CGV Vietnam. Its box office was 1.6 times the size of Vietnam’s and five times Thailand’s, while its 5.1% compound annual growth rate exceeded the Asia-Pacific average of 4.3%.

Local Movies Command the Box Office

International producers face a market where domestic films have a decisive advantage. Indonesian titles represented 201, or 43%, of releases in 2025 but captured 64% of admissions, selling 82.6 million tickets, according to Cinepoint data presented through the Asian Contents & Film Market.

By comparison, 100 U.S. releases generated 36.9 million admissions. Twenty-seven Japanese films sold 3.3 million tickets, while 61 Korean titles and 16 Chinese releases each recorded 2 million admissions.

Three Indonesian movies have crossed the 10 million-admission mark: Imajinari’s 2025 comedy “Agak Laen: Menyala Pantiku!,” Visinema’s 2025 animated fantasy adventure “Jumbo” and MD Pictures’ 2022 horror film “KKN di Desa Penari.”

Horror is Indonesia’s most-produced theatrical genre, and five of the country’s 10 most-attended films since 2011 are horror titles. Recent successes have also combined scares with comedy or drama, while many draw from existing IP.

Foreign horror can attract local audiences as well. The 2024 run of Korean film “Exhuma” increased theatrical interest in Korean movies in Indonesia, according to the presentation.

Remakes Offer Another Route

Localized adaptations have already produced major results. The Indonesian version of Korean film “Miracle in Cell No. 7” sold approximately 5.8 million tickets in 2022 and subsequently generated a new sequel and an animated offshoot.

“Kang Mak from Pee Mak,” adapted from Thai horror-comedy “Pee Mak,” drew around 4.9 million admissions in 2024. Adaptation opportunities also extend beyond film: an Indonesian theatrical version of the 2016 Korean series “Descendants of the Sun” is in production for cinemas in 2027.

The study found other openings away from theaters, particularly for completed programs. Streaming was identified as the most accessible destination for sellers of finished content. Between January and September 2026, Korean shows represented 50% of Netflix Indonesia’s 50 most-watched titles, compared with 22% for Indonesian programming, 14% for U.S. titles and 6% for Chinese fare.

Vidio, launched in 2014, was Indonesia’s largest streaming platform by cumulative reach as of 2026. It released its first local original in 2019 and has worked with Wattpad to adapt web novels. Netflix, which entered Indonesia in 2016 and was blocked by state-owned telecom Telkom until 2020, has since become the country’s leading international streamer. Its first Indonesian original was 2023’s “The Cigarette Girl.”

Disney+ entered in 2020 as Disney+ Hotstar, rebranded in October 2025 and agreed to a joint package with Vidio in October 2026. Viu has operated in the market since 2016, while WeTV and iQiyi have expanded through Chinese-language drama libraries and growing local slates.

Microdrama is also moving into mainstream distribution. RCTI began airing microdramas daily at 3:30 p.m. in January 2026. MNC Digital Entertainment launched the V+Short app in June 2026, and Vidio partnered with ReelShort that September to add more than 200 titles dubbed into Bahasa Indonesia.

ShowBiz Take

For Taiwanese companies, the opportunity comes with a visibility challenge. “Meteor Garden” remains a cultural reference point from the 2000s, but the study found little broader nostalgic attachment to Taiwanese programming. Many Indonesian viewers also do not distinguish Taiwanese series from productions originating in mainland China or Hong Kong.

Catchplay+ operates in Indonesia, but its reputation there is tied to Hollywood films rather than Taiwanese or other Asian dramas. That makes horror especially valuable: instead of depending on existing recognition, producers can approach audiences through a genre already central to Indonesia’s theatrical business and through collaborations or adaptations shaped for the local market.

The study also highlighted foreign-drama channels and streaming services as possible buyers for finished dramas, along with Bahasa-language educational children’s programming distributed digitally. For kids, family-friendly animation with educational elements and appealing characters performs best, while streaming has overtaken television and YouTube Kids is a popular viewing destination.

What Happens Next?

K7 Media urged Taiwanese companies to go beyond direct content sales and increase promotional activity in Indonesia. The presentation identified JAFF Market, running Nov. 28-30 at the Jogja Expo Center in Yogyakarta, as a potential starting point for building relationships with the country’s film industry.