Is Primitive War Getting A Sequel? Here’s What It Will Take [Exclusive]

“Primitive War” is slowly making its way to people of the world. Director Luke Sparke’s wild dinosaur movie had a limited run in theaters earlier this summer, which has only seemed to fuel interest, more broadly, in his adaptation of Ethan Pettus’ novel of the same name. Who doesn’t want to watch dinosaurs rampaging in the jungle during the Vietnam War, after all? It’s a concept that is very different from “Jurassic Park”https://www.slashfilm.com/”Jurassic World,” but one that also has serious franchise potential. So, are we going to get a sequel?

I recently had the good fortune of speaking with Sparke ahead of the “Primitive War” VOD and Digital release in the U.S., which is set for Friday, October 3. As for a sequel? The director told me that it all comes down to how the movie performs on VOD in the coming weeks. “To me it’s going to be how it goes on VOD,” Sparke said when I asked him about a sequel. The good news is, it’s already looking good on that front. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“Australia’s just four days in and is looking good. So how that goes in America, obviously I even ended the film even further than what Ethan did in the book. I added these little after credit scenes and added a world build thing going on. I think in the books, it’s still much of a secret after book one. My [ending] was kind of like the army sees it, the world sees it. I always kind of love the ending of Iron Man, how he says ‘I am Iron Man.'”

“It kind of blew the MCU up to be different to what had been done before,” Sparked added. “I kind of went that way. Obviously my intention is that I would definitely love to jump in and build all these assets and all these dinosaurs and we’ve got them all on our computers and that, so it feels weird just to not do anything with them. So if you’re a fan out there, I definitely want to continue.”

The ending of the movie very much tees up the ball for more. Pettus also has several books in the series. The other positive thing working in favor of a sequel is that “Primitive War” was made for a shockingly low amount of money. So the bar for financial success is, as a result, a fraction of what the average blockbuster would need.

“It just came out digital here in Australia last week and in the first four days it blew past our projections are three months worth of projections,” Sparke said. “So holy s***. We’re really happy with that. So I’m hoping that bodes well for the rest of the world, especially America.”

VOD has become a much bigger part of the business and, though this movie did find relative success in its limited release, that still wasn’t enough to cover the costs. Though it was a good start. Speaking further, Sparke said they’re having conversations about what a sequel would look like, even though nothing is set in stone.

“We’re having, obviously, conversations here with the team and people about what’s next and how to do that. The question is do we go back in and just literally just do the same budget or do we try to push, try to push a little bit up, but if we push up, is it going to hurt? So there’s all those different conversations on the backend stuff that’s having the conversation. As a director, I wouldn’t just want to go and do the same, so it depends how my ego goes.”

I called “Primitive War” the greatest non-“Jurassic” dinosaur movie ever made. So the possibility of a sequel is extremely appealing. Sparke also confirmed that the movie will be getting a physical release down the line. “There’s going to be a Blu-ray and if that goes well or if it goes on VOD steelbook as well,” he said. “I’ve done an audio commentary and there’s behind the scenes and there’s a whole bunch of extra stuff that can be put on there.” 

“Primitive War” is available beginning October 3, 2025 on VOD and Digital.