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As a director, Elizabeth Banks’ track record has been spotty to say the least, with the actress and filmmaker contributing to one of the worst movies ever made through her Movie 43 segment “Middleschool Date,” before finding big success with song-and-dance sequel Pitch Perfect 2, while the Charlie’s Angels reboot died a death at the box office. However, based on its title alone, Cocaine Bear is surely destined to make a splash when it comes to theaters in February of next year.
The memes are already flowing like fine internet wine, with the premise so unashamedly outlandish that it could only be true. Every bit as self-explanatory as it sounds, the film is inspired by the genuine tale of a black bear that stumbled upon a duffel bag full of cocaine that had been lost during an illicit smuggling operation, leading to the fantastic Pablo Ecobear nickname.
The presence of Spider-Verse and Jump Street masterminds Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as producers promises plenty of comedic shenanigans, but Banks has revealed several more influences in an interview with SlashFilm, and they’re so unexpected that they become intensely exciting by default.
“The reason I made it was not necessarily because of the crazy bear. I do love these movies and I love horror and I love gore. And I love horror comedy. I love Sam Raimi and I love John Carpenter … This takes place in 1985, so it’s a real opportunity to create an homage to some of those kinds of films, but also to do something really unique tonally because it’s also a character piece.
The other thing about bears that’s different from sharks is that when you see a bear in the wild, sort of, across the field or whatever, you don’t immediately need to run away. You think, ‘Oh, they’re cuddly, and they’re cute.’ I thought Jaws did such an amazing job of taking that sense of wonder and awe that you have at seeing something and then turning it into horror when you realize it could be you. That was a feeling I wanted to get out of the audience.”
A survival horror comedy inspired by a bonkers real-world scenario revolving around a drug-addled bear that counts the works of Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, and Steven Spielberg as its visual and thematic touchstones? Just when you thought the hype couldn’t get any more real, Cocaine Bear has snorted up even more of our intrigue.