The first poster for the superbly titled Cocaine Bear is exactly what you would want it to be and more. Simply putting the two keywords front-and-center and realizing them in a stunning image, the poster teases a monstrous thriller, with both the image and the title written in such a terrifying, delightfully B-movie sort of way as to suggest that this will be a movie you will want to see and will never forget. Check out the first poster for Cocaine Bear below.
This stunning image of Cocaine Bear has been unveiled by the official Twitter account for the upcoming thriller, and really tells us all we need to know. Featuring an American black bear looking like he has stumbled onto the stash of Scarface’s Tony Montana, Cocaine Bear promises to be a high-concept thrill ride with a drug-fuelled, rampaging beast at its center.
“Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild thriller finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow … and blood,” reads the official synopsis for Cocaine Bear. A synopsis that goes with the newly released poster perfectly.
Cocaine Bear is all set to be helmed by director and actress Elizabeth Banks. Known for roles in the likes of The Hunger Games franchise, the Pitch Perfect franchise, The Lego Movie franchise, and much, much more, Banks has been behind the camera before with such movies as Pitch Perfect 2 and 2019’s Charlie’s Angels.
Written by Jimmy Warden, Cocaine Bear features an ensemble cast that includes Keri Russell (The Americans, Antlers), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Margo Martindale (BoJack Horseman), Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones), Brooklyn Prince (Home Before Dark), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Kahyun Kim (American Gods), newcomer Scott Seiss, and the late, great Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, The Many Saints of Newark).
Cocaine Bear is Based on a Wild True Story
Thus, Cocaine Bear will drop audiences in a Kentucky forest, where an American black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine. As the poster points out, Cocaine Bear is based on a true story in which an American black bear did indeed ingest several pounds of cocaine that were thrown from a plane during a drug-smuggling run. The real bear, who has now been stuffed and named “Pablo Eskobear,” did not go on a murderous rampage, however. So expect the movie to take some creative liberties in that regard.
Sadly, authorities found the bear deceased around three months after the incident, which saw a former lawyer and narcotics police officer-turned-cocaine smuggler die when he jumped from his plane. But, with Cocaine Bear set to be a thriller about a bear on a murderous rampage, don’t expect the movie to offer the bear much in the way of sympathy.
Cocaine Bear is scheduled to be released on February 24, 2023, by Universal Pictures.
