LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 21: (L-R) Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Brian Duffield, Aditya Sood, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Keri Russell, Brooklynn Prince, Max Handelman, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jimmy Warden, Aaron Holliday and Kahyun Kim attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures’ “Cocaine Bear” at Regal LA Live on February 21, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
I think it was a true shock to people that the movie Cocaine Bear actually performed well at the box office. Not only did it perform well, but I am willing to bet many of your friends, who you'd never have suspected, went to go see it. And for those that went to see it, you went in not expecting much at all. Only THEN did you come out feeling pleasantly surprised. If you went in expecting a blockbuster movie that was set to win awards, then you were probably disappointed. But then again, what are you expecting when you know that the movie is about a bear high on cocaine? Hopefully not much.
Not sure if many of you know this, but the movie is based on true events. It was an incident that took place back in 1985 when a drug runner's plane crashed. That part does take place in the movie. But does a bear actually eat the cocaine and kill people? NO. So what did the bear actually do? What inspired this movie that is now taking over the box office? We are diving deep into the facts of the movie and what actually happened.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 21: (L-R) Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Brian Duffield, Aditya Sood, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Keri Russell, Brooklynn Prince, Max Handelman, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jimmy Warden, Aaron Holliday and Kahyun Kim attend the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures' "Cocaine Bear" at Regal LA Live on February 21, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
The story WAS based on a drug runner's plane crash in 1985
Elizabeth Banks directed the movie to "give the bear a point of view"
Before the "cocaine bear" died, the body of drug runner Andrew Thornton was found
The incident happened in September of 1985 when Thornton was traveling in a plane with 880 pounds of cocaine and thought the Feds were trailing him, so he decided to throw some of the stash out of the plane and take some more with him when he parachuted out. His plan didn't work.
Thornton was found in a driveway with cocaine strapped to his body wearing Gucci loafers
He was found dead in a driveway with $15 million worth of cocaine strapped to his body wearing Gucci loafers
A bear DID eat the cocaine
So a much smaller bear than was depicted in the movie did appear a few months later (in December). The bear was found dead in Chattahoochee National Forest.
The bear was given a nickname "Pablo Escobear"
Sometimes spelled "Eskobear," he was named after the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Unlike the movie, Pablo Escobear did NOT kill anyone in real life
The bear was actually found four weeks after it had passed. He did NOT kill anyone like the movie portrayed.
Screenwriter Jimmy Warden says the movie is his twisted fantasy of what would've happened
Jimmy Warden is fully aware the bear did not kill people but said, the film is “my twisted fantasy of what I wish actually happened after the bear did all that cocaine.”
Just how much cocaine did the "cocaine bear" eat?
After an autopsy was performed, it was determined that the bear had "a stomach full of cocaine," although just 4 grams of cocaine was actually found in its blood.
