The CEO behind Indonesia’s biggest movie ever wants to make your next foreign film hit : ‘I see ourselves as South Korea 15 years ago’

Imagine a horror film so captivating that it becomes the highest-grossing movie in a country’s history. This is the story of KKN di Desa Penari and the visionary behind it, Manoj Punjabi.

Manoj Punjabi, the mastermind of MD Entertainment, made a bold decision during the pandemic. He refused to release the film, believing it was “made for the cinema.” And he was right.

Released in April last year, KKN di Desa Penari shattered records, proving that local films are capturing an ever-increasing share of Indonesian eyeballs.

MD Entertainment, backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent, is at the forefront of this rising industry, producing three of Indonesia’s top 10 grossing films last year.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is still an underdeveloped movie market with only one screen per 137,500 people. But this is seen as an opportunity rather than a constraint.

The appetite for local content is growing, with Indonesians looking for films that reflect their lives. This year alone, 14 movies have reached the “gold class” rank.

Punjabi, a child of the film industry, started from ground zero and built MD Entertainment into a powerhouse, beginning with local soap operas and expanding into film and animation.

MD Entertainment was the first film company to list on the Bursa Indonesia, the country’s stock exchange, in 2018, aiming for transparency to attract investors.

Today, MD Entertainment creates content for both streaming services and cinemas, with plans to go global. Their horror film KKN di Desa Penari has already been released in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.

With Tencent’s 15% stake in MD Entertainment, Punjabi sees a bright future. “I see an opportunity for us to go global in a very strategic, smart way,” he explains. Stay tuned for more groundbreaking stories from MD Entertainment.