The recent horror-comedy mashup, Cocaine Bear, was a breakout hit at the box office earlier this year, raking in $64 million off of a $30 million budget. However, as bizarre as the movie was, it was actually inspired by a true story. Now, while the movie did not happen the way it did in real life, NBCUniversal and Peacock have released a new trailer for the new documentary, Cocaine Bear: The True Story, which is now available on the streamer.
The new documentary and Peacock Original separates fact from fiction between what actually happened in real life and what was just in the irreverent movie. You can check out a video of the trailer exploring “The True Story” of Cocaine Bear below:
WHAT IS THE TRUE STORY OF THE COCAINE BEAR?
The story is certainly a tale where stranger than fiction is an appropriate tale. It involves drug smuggling, murder, mayhem, and the mysterious dead body in a driveway wearing a watch that shoots tear gas. However, that is why a Georgia bear on cocaine and a Kentucky blueblood soldier of fortune are now forever linked as part of a modern-day legend.
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What’s interesting about all of this is that it starts with Andrew Thornton II, an ex-narcotics officer who took part in a drug smuggling ring. His death is part of a scene that kicks off the whole movie and also explains how a bear got addicted to cocaine. Thornton is described in the documentary as an “adrenaline junkie.”
Thornton was looking to transport up to 800 pounds of cocaine from Colombia into the US via plane. After the authorities were onto him over the radio, he started dumping the duffel bags filled with the drugs from the plane. He then jumped out of the plane himself, and his dead body was found in a Tennessee driveway. He was wearing Gucci loafers, armed with knives, $4,5000 in cash, night-vision goggles, a type of “James Bond watch” that could “shoot tear gas, and a duffel bag of cocaine that had a reported street value of $15 million.
Director Elizabeth Banks’ movie included some old news report footage with Tom Brokaw that was in fact genuine. Those events did occur in real life. Where things kind of separate from real life is the film’s madcap adventure of some hapless Georgian park denizens running afoul of the drug-addicted bear who has gone wacko now that she has gotten a taste of cocaine.
The real cocaine bear was later found dead in northern Georgia. The bear was later stuffed and put on display at a mall in Kentucky before it would later inspire the 2023 film and become a modern-day celebrity.
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Basically, a bear was found dead surrounded by a duffel bag with cocaine residue on it it. There was no more cocaine left because the bear had apparently eaten the 95% pure cocaine that was located in the bag. So, it wasn’t a matter of the bear eating some cocaine, getting addicted, and going on a comedic, madcap rampage. Apparently ingesting as much cocaine as it did killed it.
Viewers can check out Cocaine Bear: The True Story now on Peacock, as it debuted on the streamer today. The irreverent movie about a bear becoming hooked on cocaine is also available now on the streaming service. The actual film is also set to release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital VOD on April 18. Fans can pre-order it now on Amazon.
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SOURCE: Peacock, YouTube
