Cocaine Bear | The True Story Behind The Weird Title, Release Date And More

A film about a smuggler, a lot of cocaine and a ... Bear? All this is based on a true story. Let's take a look at how it happened.

Cocaine bear
If Pablo Escobar was an animal... he would be called Escobear. | ©EarlyGame

You won't believe it, a movie about smugglers, cocaine and a bear. Now let's see why this bear is called Cocaine Bear and how this funny story came about.

The Story Behind The Cocaine Bear

Let's first go back to 1985. Andrew Carter Thornton II was a paratrooper, police officer and lawyer. But then he turned to drug smuggling – a good decision? I doubt it, because in September 1985 he crashed out of his plane and died after his parachute failed to open. He was carrying several thousand dollars in cash and about 77 pounds of cocaine.

But the best was yet to come. Two months later, in November 1985, a hunter discovered a dead bear near the site of the Thornton II accident. Next to it was the smuggler's bag, which had previously contained the cocaine.

Believe it or not. The Bear consumed what was likely up to 75 pounds of cocaine. The crime lab said, "His belly was literally filled to the brim with cocaine." That means he died of a cocaine overdose. It's not every day you hear that a bear dies of a cocaine overdose. That's why he was given the name "Pablo Escobar" or "Cocaine Bear".

Wait, but what about the aforementioned movie? Let's find out now what we know about this cinema masterpiece.

Cocaine Bear: The Film

The story is apparently so absurd and hilarious that director Elizabeth Banks is going to make a movie about it. Based on a true incident, so to speak. Sounds kind of funny if you ask me.

The movie will be released in February 2023, here you can also see a promotional poster of said movie.

This movie is a must-see for everyone. If there is something new in the case of Cocaine Bear, you will find it out here.

Benedikt Schnitzlbaumer

My first experience with video games was in 2017, the release of Fortnite. At that time, well it was only 5 years ago, I didn't have a game console and therefore played only on my smartphone. That was an experience...