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As unlikely as it seems from the title, Cocaine Bear is based on a true story from 1985, when a black bear consumed nearly 70 pounds of cocaine after a botched drug smuggling operation resulted in a large amount of missing stash. Elizabeth Banks will direct this action-comedy, the trailer for which was recently released by Universal.
Of course, no one knows what happened in the three months it took authorities to find the cocaine, but the chances of the bear going on a rampage during this period are extremely unlikely, as the film implies.
The synopsis for the film, scheduled for a February 2023 release, reads:
"After a failed drug smuggling operation, a black bear ingests a large amount of cocaine and goes on a drug-fueled rampage."
In reality, the Cocaine Bear was found dead in Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. Medical examiners discovered that the bear had overdosed on cocaine and suffered from hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, and stroke, among other things.
Read on to find out more about the Cocaine Bear's story ahead of the film's release.
The real story behind Cocaine Bear
On September 11, 1985, a Kentucky resident discovered a corpse in his driveway. Dressed in a bulletproof vest and night vision, this figure seemed to have died from a failed parachute. The man was later identified as Andrew C. Thornton II, a former paratrooper, and smuggler, who worked for "The Company," a notorious drug ring.
Andrew ended up dying in this failed smuggling attempt, with the million-dollar cocaine also disappearing along with the plane. This led the authorities (and supposedly the drug ring) to start searching for the missing stash.
Though it seems the film will dramatize the bear's cocaine usage to form a horror-comedy narrative, in reality, the Cocaine Bear's story is far less gruesome. In reality, three months after Thorton II's crash landing, a 175-pound black bear was discovered in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest with nearly 40 packets containing traces of cocaine all around.
As it turned out, curiosity got the better of the Cocaine Bear, aka Pablo Esko-Bear, as it consumed a humungous quantity of cocaine and died from an overdose. The medical examiner who examined the deceased bear told Kentucky For Kentucky:
"Its stomach was literally packed to the brim with cocaine...There isn't a mammal on the planet that could survive that. Cerebral hemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, and stroke. You name it, that bear had it."
According to Gary Garner of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who told the Associated Press:
"The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and OD'd (overdosed)...There's nothing left but bones and a big hide."
The package contained approximately $20 million in cocaine, which was lost due to the (now) cult-favorite bear.
After an extensive history of being traded around the world, the bear was stuffed by a taxidermist and remains one of the main attractions of the Kentucky Fun Mall in north Lexington, with its story often recounted in the state.
Elizabeth Banks' Cocaine Bear will get a theatrical release on February 24, 2023.
