Horror stands out as a natural meeting ground for Taiwanese and Indonesian producers, according to a K7 Media study of the Indonesian film and TV market presented by Trang Nguyen at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei.
The stakes are considerable. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and its biggest film market, with box office revenue of $352.9 million in 2025, according to figures drawn from PwC, Box Office Mojo and CJ CGV Vietnam. That is 1.6 times the size of Vietnam’s box office and five times Thailand’s. The market’s 5.1% compound annual growth rate also beats the Asia-Pacific average of 4.3%.
Horror is the genre Indonesia produces most for cinemas. Five of the 10 most-attended Indonesian films since 2011 are horror pictures, and recent hits have mixed scares with comedy or drama. Many of the country’s horror films draw on existing IP. Foreign horror can break out too. Korean hit “Exhuma” drove up local theatrical interest in Korean films after its 2024 run. The presentation singled out “The Rope Curse 4” as a recent Taiwan-Indonesia collaboration.
Remakes form a second route. The Indonesian version of Korean film “Miracle in Cell No. 7” sold around 5.8 million tickets in 2022 and went on to generate a new sequel plus an animated offshoot. “Kang Mak from Pee Mak,” a local take on Thai horror-comedy “Pee Mak,” drew around 4.9 million in 2024. Adaptations need not be film-to-film: a local big-screen version of “Descendants of the Sun,” the 2016 Korean series, is in production for cinemas in 2027.
Sinetron, the local soap format, remains the backbone of Indonesian TV series. The serials are churned out in bulk, usually screen every day or several nights a week, and often stretch to hundreds of episodes. Recent examples include RCTI’s “Terikat Janji,” which bowed in April 2026, and Indosiar’s “Merangkai Kisah Indah,” which launched in July 2025. Religious and faith-themed drama also features, with examples including RCTI’s “Amanah Wali” and SCTV’s “Istiqomah Cinta.” Streamers, by contrast, are packaging romance in shorter runs for younger viewers, leaning on existing digital IP and making crime, revenge and action a signature of premium programming.
In children’s content, animation that teaches, stays family-friendly and centers on likable characters does best, and linear channels stick with proven IP. Streaming has overtaken TV for kids’ viewing, with YouTube Kids a popular destination, and government regulation puts a premium on trusted, age-appropriate programming.
Taiwan’s own foothold is narrow. “Meteor Garden” remains a cultural touchstone from the 2000s, but beyond it there is little nostalgic goodwill for Taiwanese content to draw on, and many viewers can’t tell a Taiwanese series from a mainland Chinese or Hong Kong one. Taiwanese streamer Catchplay+ operates in Indonesia, but its reputation rests on Hollywood movies, not Taiwanese or wider Asian drama.
