If you’re up to date with upcoming movie releases, you’ve probably heard about Cocaine Bear. With a name as striking as that, you’re bound to take notice, and I’m willing to bet that you’re eager to learn more. To our great relief, a trailer for the upcoming thriller movie has been released providing a brief look at the plot, which is about as simple as the name of movie suggests. A bear ingests a large amount of cocaine, which causes it to go on a mindless killing spree in a small town and the surrounding area.
Coupled with that – let’s be frank: insane – premise is a surprisingly excellent cast. Keri Russell leads the comedy movie, alongside fellow Star Wars movie star Alden Ehrenreich. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who starred in the comedy series Modern Family, and the legendary Ray Liotta also feature in the movie, which was Liotta’s final role prior to his death.
Amid all that blood-pumping fun, we won’t blame you if you missed the fact that Cocaine Bear is a movie based on a true story (very loosely). That’s right, the story about a frenzied, coked-up bear is inspired by a true events. So, while we wait for the 2023 release date let’s take a look at into the Cocaine Bear true story.
Cocaine Bear takes its inspiration from real-life events which occurred in 1985 in the state of Georgia. As the story goes, a narcotics agent (and, convicted drug smuggler) named Andrew C. Thornton II was flying an aircraft across the American state when he realised the load he was carrying was too heavy for his plane.
In a panic, Thornton II began to throw cargo out of the plane, before eventually jumping out himself. Unfortunately for him, his parachute failed to deploy, and he didn’t survive the escape from the aircraft. Someone, or something, who had better luck though, was an unsuspecting American black bear.
Among the cargo that Thornton II jettisoned from his plane before jumping out himself were over 40 containers filled with cocaine, which he was presumably smuggling across the country. The cocaine didn’t get to its intended buyers, however, but one man’s loss is another bear’s gain.
Three months after Thornton II’s death, investigators came across a dead bear in a Georgian forest. Next to the bear’s corpse was the 40 opened containers of cocaine: but they’d been opened, and ingested by the bear. The bear’s ravenous consumption of such vast quantities of cocaine, unsurprisingly, led to an overdose which killed it. At least it went out on a high.
Now, the bear’s corpse can be found at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky. It was there that it was given the simple name: cocaine bear, and that is where the bear’s story ends.
The Cocaine Bear movie is set to flesh out and beef up that story, and will see the bear high on enormous quantities of cocaine, attacking local residents in a drug-fuelled rage. That sounds fun, and what’s even more fun is the fact that the main premise for the survival movie is actually grounded in reality.
Now, audiences who want to see where the action movie is headed only have to wait for Cocaine Bear release date, which is set for February 24, 2023. That means in less than a quarter of a year, our screens are set to be graced by a very angry, very high bear. Who could ask for more?