http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_673270.html
May 27, 2011 Indonesians despair over Hollywood boycott JAKARTA - INDONESIAN movie lovers are being starved of the latest Hollywood blockbusters by a drawn-out tax dispute which has led US studios to boycott the country in protest. Since the Motion Picture Association (MPA) stopped distributing films to Indonesia in February, cinema takings have tumbled as theatres try to fill the gap with local fare and B-grade foreign films dug out of the rejects bin. Everyone is losing except the sellers of pirated DVDs, who are enjoying a spike in sales. Meanwhile cinemas are almost empty. One of Jakarta's biggest theatres is showing Elite Squad, a Portuguese film from 2007, and My Sassy Girl, from 2008. The newest US offering is Source Code, released last year. Indonesian Cinema Companies Union head Djonny Sjafruddin said about half of all movies screened in Indonesia - or about 130 films a year - were imported from the MPA, representing US studios including Warner Bros, Universal Studios and Twentieth Century Fox. 'Money-wise, that translates to 60 to 70 per cent of total income of cinemas here,' said Mr Sjafruddin, whose union represents 240 cinemas nationwide. 'The MPA's move has clearly hurt us. We've reduced daily screenings from five to four and stopped midnight and weekend screenings. If this problem isn't solved, we may all have to shut down.' The studios are reportedly disputing a 22.5 per cent tax introduced in June last year on royalties they receive from the distribution of their films in Indonesia. 'The MPA felt it was unjustified. The government said it would resolve the issue but it's taking too long,' Mr Sjafruddin said. -- AFP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
