General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20267 min read

Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2

Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 (also released internationally as What's Up with Cinta? 2) is a 2016 Indonesian romantic drama film directed by Riri Riza and produced by Mira Lesmana, the sequel to the 2002 teen romance Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?.¹ Dian Sastrowardoyo and Nicholas Saputra reprise their roles as Cinta and Rangga, former high-school sweethearts who reunite in Yogyakarta fourteen years after their unexplained separation.¹ The film was released simultaneously in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei on 28 April 2016 and drew 3,665,509 Indonesian cinema admissions as of 10 September 2026.²^•¹

Key fact	Detail
Director / producer	Riri Riza (director); Mira Lesmana (producer), both of Miles Films¹
Writers	Mira Lesmana and Prima Rusdi¹
Release	28 April 2016, simultaneous in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei; 123 minutes²^•¹
Lead cast	Dian Sastrowardoyo (Cinta), Nicholas Saputra (Rangga), with Adinia Wirasti, Titi Kamal, Sissy Priscillia, Dennis Adishwara, and Ario Bayu³
Premise	Fourteen years after the 2002 film, Cinta runs a successful cafe in Jakarta and Rangga lives in New York; they meet again in Yogyakarta¹
Admissions	3,665,509 in Indonesia (updated 10 September 2026)¹
Awards	Best Theme Song (Citra Award) at the 2016 Indonesian Film Festival for Melly Goeslaw; Best Music Design at the 2016 Bandung Film Festival³

Spoilers

Plot and cast

The story picks up fourteen years after the first film. Cinta is now the owner of a successful cafe in Jakarta; Rangga lives in New York. When Cinta and her friends take a holiday in Yogyakarta, the two meet again and must confront the unresolved feelings and misunderstandings left by Rangga's unexplained departure.¹^•¹² The conflicts are adult ones: responsibility, marriage, family, and the consequences of choices made years earlier, a deliberate shift from the teenage problems of the 2002 film.¹¹

The supporting cast returns largely intact: Adinia Wirasti as Karmen, Titi Kamal as Maura, Sissy Priscillia as Milly, and Dennis Adishwara as Mamet, joined by new players including Ario Bayu as Trian, Christian Sugiono as Chris, Sarita Ibrahim as Rangga's mother, and Dimi Cindyastira as Sukma.³ The film also showcases Yogyakarta: The Jakarta Post noted its space given to the hip-hop community Jogja Ora Didol, the gallery of contemporary artist Eko Nugroho, the coffee-focused cafe Klinik Kopi, and the sunrise viewpoint at Punthuk Setumbu.¹³ An academic reading of the film describes this as glocalization: Rangga, though long resident in New York, remains an Indonesian who values local culture as he shows Cinta corners of Yogyakarta she has never visited.¹⁴

Background

The 2002 original, directed by Rudi Soedjarwo and produced by Mira Lesmana, was a landmark of the post-reform Indonesian film industry. DetikHot reported that 2.7 million people saw it, making it commercially the most successful Indonesian film at that time; Tirto gives the figure as 2.17 million admissions against a production budget of Rp4.4 billion.⁴^•⁵ The film made stars of Dian Sastrowardoyo and Nicholas Saputra, and its soundtrack by Melly Goeslaw was itself a hit.⁵

The LINE short film. In 2014, twelve years after the original, a mini version of AADC was produced to endorse the messaging app LINE. Released only on the internet, it drew 6.5 million viewers, and the success revived demand for a continuation of Cinta and Rangga's story.⁵ Mira Lesmana had already considered a sequel at the film's ten-year reunion, but held back while she searched for a story that could carry the characters fourteen years forward; she explained that making the sequel quickly "would not be like the story is now," and that after such a gap it felt less like a sequel than a new film.⁶

Development and production

Mira Lesmana officially confirmed the sequel on 8 August 2015 at Popcon Asia in Jakarta, announcing that production would begin at the end of October that year.⁷ In a change from the first film, Riri Riza took the director's chair; in 2002 he and Lesmana had served only as writers and producers. Riri said he had considered inviting Rudi Soedjarwo back, but decided it would be easier to direct it himself, noting that Rudi had by then developed his own style and approach.⁸ Lesmana added that the change of director made the project more interesting, since audiences would see the teenage story and its development more than a decade later through a different director's perspective.⁸

Filming began in October 2015 in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, and from early January 2016 the production moved to New York, where the crew worked with Indonesian and American staff in temperatures below minus 1 degree Celsius.⁹ Lesmana described the fourteen-year gap as a creative challenge: the difficulty was imagining what the characters had become, and she worked out each character's development before writing.⁶

One cast member could not return. Ladya Cheryl, who played Alya in the original, was studying and could not take leave, so the other stars agreed to proceed without her.⁵ Rather than dropping the character, the writers explain that Alya died in an accident in 2010; early in the film Cinta and her friends visit Alya's grave.¹⁰ Karmen (Adinia Wirasti), recovering from drug addiction, takes on a larger role in the ensemble as a result.¹¹

Release and reception

Primeworks Distribution secured rights for Malaysia and Brunei, and the film opened theatrically in all three countries on 28 April 2016.² It went on to record 3,665,509 admissions in Indonesia.¹ The Jakarta Post's review called it a long-awaited sequel that does not disappoint, with an ending "clean and clear" that closes the characters' journey.¹³ The Dialogue magazine review placed the film in the lineage of Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy, reading it as a dialogue-driven mature romance that gives confirmation to the beloved characters' fate.¹⁵ On IMDb it holds a 7.3/10 rating from about 2,400 votes.¹²

The film circulated widely on the festival circuit: it opened the Focus on Asia – Fukuoka International Film Festival 2016, screened at the Singapore International Film Festival 2016, toured Australian cities including Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, and traveled to Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium.¹⁶

Awards

At the 2016 Indonesian Film Festival in Jakarta, Melly Goeslaw won the Citra Award for Best Theme Song.³ The Bandung Film Festival 2016 gave Best Music Design to both Anto Hoed and Melly Goeslaw, with nominations for Adinia Wirasti (supporting actress), W. Ichwan Diardono (editing), and Eros Eflin (art direction).³ At the 2017 Indonesian Box Office Movie Awards the film received nominations including Best Director (Riri Riza), Best Actress (Dian Sastrowardoyo), and Best Actor (Nicholas Saputra).³

Later continuations

The story did not end with the 2016 film. In September 2026, Miles Films premiered the short film Bahasa Cinta yang Beda in Jakarta, continuing Cinta and Rangga's story ten years after AADC 2 and revealing that the two eventually married.¹⁷ Separately, the franchise returned to its beginning: Rangga & Cinta, a remake of the 2002 film with a new young cast, directed by Riri Riza and produced by Mira Lesmana, Nicholas Saputra, and Toto Prasetyanto, was released in Indonesian cinemas on 2 October 2025.¹⁸

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026