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Distribution seen as main obstacle to film industry growth
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M. Taufik Hidayat arrived in Jakarta with a mission — to voice the concerns of his colleagues in the East Java Association of Small Theater Operators, who claim to have suffered from unfair business competition.
He attended “The Fate of Indonesian Films in Theaters”, a seminar recently held by the Indonesian Journalists Association of Reform (PWI-R).
He particularly wanted to meet the head of the Business Competition Supervisory Committee (KPPU), Muhammad Iqbal, who was speaking at the event.
Seated in the back row, Hidayat was the first to stand up when the question and answer session started. He talked about how many small theater owners were forced to transform their theaters into motorcycle showrooms or parking lots because of falling visitor numbers.
“We are facing problems acquiring movies, mainly the new local ones. The (local film) distributors say they only give them to the 21 Group. We can only screen a movie at our theater after it has played at 21,” he said. “Don’t blame us if we resort to showing soft porn flicks to survive.”
Kumala Atmadja, one of the seminar attendees, answered that these things had to be seen in the light of market mechanisms — if you can’t compete, you lose.
The KPPU has investigated the national theater industry following reports the 21 Group of theaters was involved in unfair business practices. The agency found no evidence to support the allegations.
Muhammad Iqbal suggested Hidayat file a new report, which Hidayat did but received no response.
The 21 Group is the country’s largest theater company with 353 screens in 85 locations in big cities across the country, including Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya. It has a total of 60,000 seats and is capable of screening some 100 films annually.
The group has long dominated film distribution in the country, especially since it was given the right to import commercial movies in the 1990s.
While it was not found guilty of violating the law on monopolies, the company’s dominance is worrying to some.
Research by PWI-R found that out of 48 local movies produced last year, only eight were distributed through more than one theater group. It also pointed out cases where film producers canceled their agreements with theaters outside the 21 Group.
Even Blitz Megaplex, the report said, finds it difficult to request a movie from film producers who have signed agreements with the 21 Group, let alone single-screen theaters.
The 21 Group has denied monopolizing the theater industry, saying it is an open market and anyone can import movies and build cinemas. Film producers also say their actions are based purely on business considerations.
“We always make copies of films in line with the available screens. The cost of a single film copy is about Rp 12 million (US$1,333), so we have to make sure our films can generate enough money in theaters,” said Aris Muda, the media relations and promotions manager for producer Multivision. “The competition is tough to even get a screening schedule in theaters (of the 21 Group).”
While local film production has increased from 35 films in 2006 to 77 last year, the number of theater-goers remains relatively low. A survey conducted by Kompas daily last December found 62 percent of 1,358 people it surveyed preferred watching movies at home.
Only 12.4 percent still went to theaters and 60 percent said they had not gone to the movies in more than a year.
The unchecked distribution of pirated DVDs and VCDs sold at affordable prices is partly responsible for declining theater attendance.
The situation seems hopeless for small theater owners.
Film critic Budi Irawanto of Gadjah Mada University said the survival of small theaters also determined the genres and the quality of films produced by Indonesian filmmakers.
“As youngsters now account for the biggest block of visitors to theaters, more filmmakers are making teen flicks ...,” he said.
He believes the industry will move in the right direction only after its distribution channels and exhibition spaces have been democratized and its content becomes less and less Jakarta-centered.
“The problems of local theaters cannot be settled through market mechanisms alone. We need reformed regulations to enable the theater industry to grow and support the national film industry,” he said.
The government, he said, needs to pay heed to the old demand to cut or scrap the theater screening tax imposed on theater owners.
He believes a national policy that fairly regulates film distribution is important to ensure that Hidayat and his colleagues can offer new movies to customers.
