Details
Movie TitleCocaine Bear
Release DateFebruary 24, 2023
TaglineGet in line.
Runtime95 minutes / 1 hour 35 minutes
DirectorElizabeth Banks
Screenplay Written ByJimmy Warden
Based OnLoosely inspired by the real 1985 “Cocaine Bear” incident
Is It a Remake?No. It is an original black comedy thriller inspired by real events.
BudgetApproximately $35 million
Box OfficeApprox. $88.3 million worldwide
Main Cast
Keri RussellSari
O’Shea Jackson Jr.Daveed
Christian ConveryHenry
Alden EhrenreichEddie
Brooklynn PrinceDee Dee
Isiah Whitlock Jr.Bob
Margo MartindaleRanger Liz
Jesse Tyler FergusonPeter
Ray LiottaSyd
Ayoola SmartOfficer Reba
Kristofer HivjuOlaf
Hannah HoekstraElsa
Awards
⭐ The bear was nominated for Best Villain at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
⭐ The film won multiple Golden Trailer Awards, including Best Comedy and Best Viral Campaign for a Feature Film.
⭐ The film was nominated at the Annie Awards for Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production.
⭐ No Academy Award nominations were verified for the film.
⭐ No Golden Globe nominations were verified for the film.
Short Plot Summary
After drug smuggler Andrew Thornton drops duffel bags of cocaine over Georgia, a black bear eats the drugs and goes on a violent rampage through the forest. As a nurse searches for her missing daughter, criminals hunt for the lost shipment, a detective follows the trail, and park staff try to survive the chaos, everyone slowly realizes the most dangerous thing in the woods is a very high bear with no interest in calming down.
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Key Quotes
“A bear did cocaine!” — Henry
“The bear, it did cocaine.” — Sari
“Don’t eat that. Don’t eat that.” — Henry
“We have such good luck in nature.” — Peter
“It’s apex predator, high on cocaine.” — Daveed
“The bear’s dead. It’s dead.” — Bob
Trivia
Director
- Cocaine Bear was directed by Elizabeth Banks.
- The screenplay was written by Jimmy Warden.
- The film mixes creature-feature horror, crime comedy, gore, and intentionally absurd B-movie energy.
- Banks has described the film as giving the bear a kind of revenge-story angle.
- The film was released by Universal Pictures.
Cast / Casting
- Keri Russell stars as Sari, a nurse searching for her daughter in the forest.
- O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich play Daveed and Eddie, criminals sent to recover the missing cocaine.
- Ray Liotta plays drug boss Syd in one of his final film roles.
- Margo Martindale plays Ranger Liz, whose terrible day at work becomes much worse once the bear arrives.
- Allan Henry performed as the bear reference performer for the digital creature work.
Soundtrack / Score
- The score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh.
- The film’s trailer prominently used “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)” by Grandmaster & Melle Mel.
- The soundtrack leans into the movie’s 1980s setting and wild comic-thriller tone.
- Music is used to underline the absurd contrast between drug-crime chaos and animal-attack horror.
- The score supports the film’s blend of comedy, suspense, and over-the-top gore.
Location
- The story is set largely in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest region.
- The real 1985 incident involved cocaine dropped from a plane connected to smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II.
- The film was shot primarily in Ireland, standing in for the American wilderness.
- The forest setting lets the movie turn hiking trails, ranger stations, waterfalls, and roads into attack zones.
- The real bear associated with the incident is famously displayed in Lexington, Kentucky.
Behind-The-Scenes
- The film was produced by Lord Miller Productions and Brownstone Productions, among others.
- John Guleserian served as cinematographer.
- Joel Negron edited the film.
- The production budget was approximately $35 million.
- The film grossed approximately $88.3 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo and IMDb figures.
Nostalgia
- Cocaine Bear was marketed heavily around its outrageous title and premise.
- The movie became part of a modern wave of knowingly ridiculous animal-attack and meme-ready genre films.
- Its 1985 setting gives the film room for retro clothing, drug-war references, and 1980s needle drops.
- The real-life “Pablo Escobear” legend helped make the film a viral conversation before release.
- For fans of chaotic creature features, it is the rare movie where the title basically is the elevator pitch, the spoiler, and the review.
Easter Eggs
- The movie is loosely inspired by the real “Cocaine Bear” story, but the actual bear was not known to have killed anyone.
- The name “Pablo Escobear” is a popular nickname attached to the real bear after the fact.
- Ray Liotta’s appearance gives the film a crime-movie connection through one of the genre’s most recognizable actors.
- The film’s title card and marketing lean into grindhouse-style simplicity: bear plus cocaine equals chaos.
- The bear itself functions less like a traditional monster and more like a disaster that keeps wandering into everyone’s subplot.
Misc.
- Cocaine Bear is rated R for bloody violence and gore, drug content, and language.
- Box Office Mojo lists the film’s genres as Comedy, Crime, and Thriller.
- IMDb lists the budget at approximately $35 million and worldwide gross at $88,314,672.
- The film is dedicated to Ray Liotta, who died in 2022 before the movie’s release.
- Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 157, with Don rating it 1.75, Ken rating it 0.50, Jon rating it 2.00, and an overall rating of 1.42.
Sources Cited
3 Guys and a Flick — Ratings
IMDb — Cocaine Bear
IMDb — Full Cast & Crew
IMDb — Awards
IMDb — Quotes
IMDb — Taglines
IMDb — Soundtrack
Box Office Mojo — Cocaine Bear
Box Office Mojo — Original Release
Rotten Tomatoes — Cocaine Bear
Wikipedia — Cocaine Bear
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