Move aside Oscar nomination-hopefuls, the true gem of cinema is here: Cocaine Bear! If you haven’t seen the movie yet and are wondering what it is about, it’s quite literally what the title suggests — a bear high on cocaine who goes on a rampage. As the trailer famously advertises, it’s also based on true events.
If you have watched the movie, you must be still reeling from the wild ride, wondering how much of the film is actually true. Let’s unravel that for you:
Cocaine Bear is inspired by a wild bear who was found dead after ingesting 75 pounds of cocaine that smugglers accidentally dropped. The bear is not known to have harmed anyone, nor were there any casualties reported.
The basic premise of the movie is the same as what happened in real-life: It was the September of 1985 when smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II (yes, the film used the real name!) dropped down 40 plastic packets of cocaine from his aircraft.
Thornton is said to have thrown away the goods because the cargo was too heavy for the plane or/and the plane was faulty and could crash. He also reportedly jumped but died due to his parachute failing — not as comical as depicted in the movie.
A dead bear was found three months later in December and medical experts found that he had ingested 75 pounds of cocaine, which obviously was quite a lethal amount. They tied this death to the Thornton’s package.
But there were no reports of the bear actually going on a murderous rampage while high on drugs. In fact, it is assumed that the bear overdosed quite immediately after consuming them.
As you’d expect with such a wacky event, the bear was immortalized via taxidermy. He was first displayed in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Kentucky under the cheeky name of “Pablo Eskobear,” and later sent to Lexington Kentucky’s Fun Mall, where one can still visit him.
Beyond this, the film takes wild liberties to speculate the events between the time the bear ingested the cocaine and his inevitable demise. Actress and director Elizabeth Banks herself stated that this was an interpretation of the “bear’s revenge.”
As such, this narrative leaves no stone unturned exploring an exaggerated version of what could’ve happened to everyone involved (the drug dealers, law enforcement, and the unwitting civilians) if the bear on drugs ran wild.
Although it sounds like an absurd concept, in Hollywood currency, such a film is low-budget but has high returns, especially for fans of slasher, comedic horror — and the rising box office collection for Cocaine Bear proves this!
About Cocaine Bear
Cocaine Bear is an upcoming American dark comedy thriller film directed and co-produced by Elizabeth Banks from a screenplay by Jimmy Warden. It is inspired by the true story of the “Cocaine Bear”, an American black bear that ingested a duffel bag full of cocaine in 1985.
The film features an ensemble cast that includes Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery-Jennings, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Aaron Holliday, Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta in one of his final performances before his death.
Cocaine Bear is scheduled to be released in the United States on February 24, 2023, by Universal Pictures.
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