Get your mirror plates ready, and don’t leave any food out in the open because Cocaine Bear is about to rage on Peacock. The laugh-out-loud R-rated comedy is coming to the streaming service 50 days after its theatrical debut on April 14. Elizabeth Banks directs from a script by Jimmy Warden about a massive black bear that rampages through the woods after finding bags of cocaine in the woods.
If you’re unaware of the true story that inspires Cocaine Bear, well, it’s a doozy. In 1985, convicted drug smuggler Andrew Thornton was on a smuggling run from Columbia and had dumped several packages full of cocaine before jumping from the plane himself. Unfortunately, he hit his head on the tail of the aircraft and wound up in a free fall to the ground, where he was found dead in someone’s driveway. Several months later, authorities discovered a 175-pound black bear that died after devouring approximately $15 million worth of cocaine that Thornton had dropped. “Its stomach was literally packed to the brim with cocaine,” the medical examiner who’d performed the bear’s necropsy said. “There isn’t a mammal on the planet that could survive that. Cerebral hemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, stroke. You name it, that bear had it.”
Cocaine Bear stars Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Isiah Whitlock Jr., Brooklyn Prince, Christian Covery, Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ayoola Smart, Scott Seiss, Kahyun Kim, and Ray Liotta, in his final performance.
Speaking with Variety in February, Warden confirmed he has ideas for multiple sequels to Cocaine Bear, including Cocaine Shark! When asked if he has a sequel in mind, Warden replied, “Yeah, for sure. Not just a sequel. Many sequels. Cocaine Bear in Space is where we would probably end. “
When the interviewer said they couldn’t tell if he was kidding, Warden continued: “No, I’m f*cking with you about Cocaine Bear Goes to Space. But for the sequels, I definitely have ideas for that. The bear’s not the bad guy in this movie. What happened is a product of circumstance and everybody else’s poor decisions. I think that is a story that we can continue to tell over and over again. I’d be excited to tell it because there are some really good ideas that we have for the subsequent movies. “
Will you be checking out Cocaine Bear on Peacock? What’s your idea for a Cocaine Bear sequel? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below!