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ultiplex movie theaters have mushroomed in Jakarta, making it easy for people who live even in remote areas of the capital to watch the latest films from Hollywood and Indonesia on the silver screen.

The rise of the multiplex has heralded the end of traditional outdoor movie screenings called layar tancap, which have been a staple of Indonesian movie-going both in cities and villages since film arrived in Indonesia more than a century ago.

“It’s ironic because Indonesia with its vast rural areas, remote places and distant villages is a big market for such movie exhibitors,” cinema observer Bernadetta Diah Aryani told a discussion at University of Indonesia recently.

“Unfortunately, the business is instead dying,” she added.

The decline of outdoor screenings can be traced to the rise of television stations that broadcast movies for free, a deluge of pirated VCDs and DVDs as well as complicated government regulations for exhibitors who wish to get official approval to screen movies, said several exhibitors.

According to data from Association of Outdoor Movie Theaters (Perfiki), more than 900 outdoor movie exhibitors regularly visited 80 percent of Indonesia’s villages and rural areas from 1976-1980.

Perfiki head Santoso said that the association’s membership had continually decreased since the 1990s.

“We now have only 50 members,” he said.

Arief Subhan, who owns an outdoor movie exhibition company in Kampung Bulak, Cinangka, Sawangan, Depok said that the demand for screenings had declined over the last several years due to development of electronic media such as VCDs and DVDs.

“Even television stations include new movies in their regularly scheduled broadcasts. Sometimes it only takes them a year or six months to broadcast a new movies on the air,” Arief said.

Profits from an outdoor film exhibition business are no longer promising from business perspective, but Arief is a fan and so still runs FF Films, a company that he established three years ago, he said.

“It used to be a promising business, considering celebrations such as wedding parties or circumcisions were always punctuated by an outdoor screening,” he said.

“But not anymore,” he added, stating that event organizers today usually hired a single keyboardist and a singer. Movies are no longer the main entertainment option, he said.

“I still remember when I was a little, people always looked forward to outdoor screenings and they would stay up until 5 a.m. Now a screening will run only until 10 p.m.,” said Arief, adding that he earned Rp 500,000 (US$56.1) at a recent screening.

Arief said at most he received four screening requests a month, while more often than not, he had no requests.

When he has only a few screening requests, he often uses his movie projector to watch a film alone when he felt bored, he added.

According to research conducted by Bernadetta, alternative forms of entertainment for events, such as solo keyboardists, were another factor in the slow death of the business.

Another outdoor movie exhibitor, Romlan, 45, agreed with Bernadetta. He said that he started his business in 1985 and had to close after only four years, citing ever-diminishing audiences.

“People now prefer to hire a solo keyboardist and a singer,” he added.

“Exhibitors must go through a lot of paperwork to get a permit to screen movies. How can we compete against pirate DVD sellers that can offer the latest movies?” said Romlan.