Cocaine Bear is exactly what it sounds like. A feral bear eats a boatload of cocaine and tears a whole forest apart. Yes, folks, we’re looking at what’s shaping up to be the best thriller of 2023.
After her work on the Pitch Perfect films, Elizabeth Banks has shifted into completely bonkers territory with Cocaine Bear. Though we meet an array of humans in the first trailer for this batshit, wild movie, clearly, the bear is the main character of this story. Sorry Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. Apologies to the late Ray Liotta, and condolences to Alden Ehrenreich. This is the bear’s movie. And he’s high on cocaine.
You’ll probably be shocked to find out that Cocaine Bear is based on a true story. You can’t make it up! In December 1985, a black bear ingested an entire duffel bag of cocaine that had fallen out of a drug smuggler’s plane, which was carrying too heavy of a load. The bear was found three months after his death, lying beside an empty bag and 40 opened plastic containers of blow.
But he doesn’t die so quickly in the movie adaptation. Oh, no. There’s plenty of mauling, cocaine drooling, and rabid tree-climbing to be done first. And it’s not just one duffel of cocaine that the bear ingests. “A lot of cocaine was lost,” Ray Liotta says, nearly shaking in fear, at the beginning of the trailer. Just how much cocaine are we talking about?
While the town scrambles to clean up the random sachets of drugs sprawled over the neighborhood—even some kiddos pick up a batch—the bear hunts for more. If anyone gets in his way, he mauls them. Even if they’re not in his way, hiding behind bushes or up in trees, he tracks them down in a coked-out fury and rips their brains out. There will be no survivors, when it comes to the bloodthirsty Cocaine Bear.
Cocaine Bear premieres on Feb. 24, 2023. But if you can’t wait for this highly-anticipated movieto hit theaters, you can also visit the OG Cocaine Bear himself, who’s on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington.
