RI bucking television-to-cinema trend
By Antariksawan Jusuf
JAKARTA (JP): While Hollywood is known for its avidity in producing silver-screen movies based on classic television series, Indonesian producers are doing just the opposite, turning big screen stories into the small ones.
Consider these titles: The Saint, Highlander, Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, and the latest Lost in Space and The X- Files. These theatrical movies, some are blockbusters, have all been developed from classic television series. There must be some explanation from Hollywood. And money may unsurprisingly be the answer.
But right here, production houses are keen to bring successful wide screen stories to television as series, serials or sitcoms. Timing may well be the answer. The growing television industry in since the early 1990s, with the introduction of commercial stations, shares the blame for the slump of wide screen movie productions.
Local movie production, which in 1987 recorded 137 titles, fell to 61 in 1991 and reached rock bottom in 1995 with only 22 titles. The Indonesian Film Festival, held regularly since 1955 with a temporary closure between 1965 to 1972 due to political turbulence, met its doom in 1993 because of the lack of entries. In contrast, TV program production rose from an estimated 2,980 hour episodes in 1995 to 4,000 hours the following year.
The situation has led television stations and producers to attract moviegoers who abandoned movie theaters and are familiar with local movies to watch their shows, hoping to gain instant rating success. We love nostalgia, for sure.
Indonesian TV programs adapted from theatrical movies vary in their theme but when the leading roles are female, the stories tend to be supernatural. From the vengeful ghost of a gang rape victim Janda Kembang, which has the same artist as its wide screen title (SCTV), two versions of a vengeful ghost of a gang rape victim (again) Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (RCTI and Indosiar), Javanese mythological guardian of the southern seas Ratu Pantai Selatan (SCTV), to seductive house maid Inem Pelayan Seksi (Indosiar).
Others genres include Harley Davidson-riding crime-fighting Ali Topan, pickpocket-turned-general Naga Bonar (SCTV), slapstick comedies Warkop DKI and Madu dan Racun (Indosiar), Tutur Tinular (ANteve) or the highly celebrated Si Doel (RCTI).
Market demand most certainly becomes the biggest consideration for Hollywood to produce movies adapted from classic television.
Despite pressures from several countries in the form of quotas, movies are apparently the only American exports that speak a universal language and break the cultural barrier. (Sylvester Stallone and B-rated shoot-'em-up type movies do not require their viewers to understand English). Unlike television series, movies make more money for Hollywood.
Until two weeks ago the infamous Titanic movie had cashed in US$1,136 billion from overseas market, compared to $585 million it earned from its domestic market. While the second biggest dollar generating movie Jurassic Park grabbed $563 million and $357 million respectively from overseas and the domestic market.
While foreign countries find most American sitcoms and series unappealing, language does not seem to be the barrier as they do not perform well in English speaking countries either. Hollywood big players such as Columbia, Disney, Fox, MCA, Paramount, Warner and Universal have to wrap most of their television series and serials into a package with movies, otherwise they will be left untouched by foreign television stations.
It's true that Hollywood also produces television series adapted from movies but most of them are comedies such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, Jurassic Park, and Jumanji. The move is believed to be a way to fill areas where children can enjoy the movie without watching the original, which are usually restricted for children below 13 years of age.
In the area of adaptation, Indonesian producers are certainly not left behind. They have brought comic strips to TV such as (Ali Oncom, TPI), short stories to TV (Lupus, Indosiar), radio drama to movie (Begaya FM, RCTI; Ngelaba, TPI), magazine docu- drama to TV (Oh Mama Oh Papa, ANteve), TV series to comedy (Si Doel, RCTI), popular songs to TV (Terlanjur Sayang, Madu dan Racun, Indosiar; Balada Dangdut, TPI).