Elizabeth Banks's upcoming movie Cocaine Bear, produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, depicts a true story that is stranger than fiction. Following the release of its first trailer, many are wondering "is Cocaine Bear a real movie?" and the answer is surprisingly a "yes." What's even weirder is that the Cocaine Bear movie is inspired by a true story literally about a bear who ate cocaine. It's not the usual fare expected from the Pitch Perfect director, but surely Banks will bring her quirky sensibilities to the project to make it a success.
Banks, Lord, and Miller previously worked together on The Lego Movie series, which blurred the line between fantasy and reality, and now they're tackling a new sort of beast in the form of a real movie about a bear who ate cocaine. Cocaine Bear has turned a lot of heads based on its title alone, and it's easy to understand why. Based on the footage from the trailer, the movie promises to be a fun and campy romp following a bizarre plot that hasn't been seen on the screen before. Here's everything that's known regarding Cocaine Bear's cast, plot, release date, and more.
Cocaine Bear Is A Real Movie
As much as the premise sounds like a joke, Cocaine Bear is literally about a bear going on a rampage after eating cocaine. The movie now has an official poster and a trailer out as of November 2022. It was announced in 2019 that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the filmmakers who brought the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to the big screen were working on an untitled horror-comedy project based on a spec script written by Jimmy Warden. At first, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet were asked to direct, but they instead chose to make Scream 5. In 2021, Cocaine Bear officially went into development at Universal, instead under the direction of Elizabeth Banks. In July and August, the outstanding ensemble cast was announced, and in November 2022, the movie about a bear who ate cocaine got an official 2023 release date.
Elizabeth Banks Is Behind Cocaine Bear
For the majority of her career, Elizabeth Banks has stayed on the acting side of Hollywood. She's largely known for comedic roles in movies and television shows such as Wet Hot American Summer, the Hunger Games franchise, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Scrubs. Even so, she has significant directing experience on her resume. Banks already has the sequel Pitch Perfect 2 and the 2019 Charlie's Angels under her belt, proving she has a penchant for comedy and action. With that in mind, combined with the fact that producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller are also known for the same genres, audiences can expect Cocaine Bear to likely fall into a similar mix of comedy and action.
Cocaine Bear Release Date
Principal photography began for the movie Cocaine Bear in County Wicklow, Ireland, in late August 2021, and Universal has finally given an official release date for the survival horror comedy. Cocaine Bear will be released on February 24, 2023. The movie will initially be receiving a theatrical release, and it has yet to be announced when the movie can be viewed on streaming services. Audiences had to wait quite a while to find out exactly when Cocaine Bear would be hitting the screen, with many worried that the movie would face delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While production was delayed slightly, Cocaine Bear faced very few obstacles on its way to the big screen.
Cocaine Bear Cast
The Cocaine Bear movie features an outstanding ensemble cast, with the late Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) starring as the character Dentwood. Keri Russell (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) is headlining the movie as Colette Matthews, a woman looking for her daughter in the woods. Also starring in Cocaine Bear are actors O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as Howard, Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) as Henry, Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Marty, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Lightyear) as Bob. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), and Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones) are in currently undisclosed roles. This will also be the feature film debut of popular TikTok star Scott Seiss.
Cocaine Bear's True Story
The movie Cocaine Bear is based on the true story of Andrew Carter Thornton, who went from being a narcotics police officer to a cocaine smuggler. According to MuckRock, Thornton's story intersected with that of a 175-pound black bear who stumbled upon a duffel bag full of 75 pounds of cocaine. The bear ate some of that cocaine, overdosed, and died. Thornton's body was eventually found with its own bag of cocaine near that bear. Cocaine Bear will inevitably take a little creative license in connecting the dots, but there's not much to where else the movie can go, considering it's a true story about a bear who ate cocaine.