This may seem like something that could only be from a dream, but this true story has been adapted into a new movie. The latest movie to hit the big screen, Cocaine Bear, is a movie that’s sure to make an impact on the viewers. The cultural phenomenon follows the story of two drug-smuggling buddies who must recover a batch of cocaine that fell from their father’s cargo plane. This is not an easy feat because a bear of all animals takes hold of the cocaine. This sets up the movie’s plot as the two try to recover the cocaine while the pedestrians in the park must survive the horror the cartel has accidentally created.  

The movie is loosely based on the actual event of a bear in Chattahoochee National Forest. When a drug smuggler named Andrew Thornton was traveling in a plane with 880 pounds of cocaine, he thought the Feds were chasing him. He decided to throw some of the stashes out of the plane and take some for himself, but things didn’t go according to plan. When he jumped off the plane, his parachute wasn’t functioning due to the heavy load of cocaine he was carrying. This led to his death on Sept. 11, 1985, when he was found in a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee, wearing Gucci loafers and roughly $15 million worth of cocaine strapped to his body. The 40 plastic containers that fell from the plane were discovered in Northern Georgia, where an American black bear was found dead beside the pile. A doctor performed an autopsy on the bear and discovered it had consumed all 40 containers of cocaine found at the scene. This led to a name being coined for the bear, Pablo Escobar. 

The movie’s director, Elizabeth Banks, saw the bear’s story’s potential, so she twisted it to make the comedic and gory movie we now know today as Cocaine Bear. In the film, the bear only finds a portion of the cocaine and becomes deranged in its search for more. Two kids, three cartel members, two park rangers, three local hooligans, two EMTs, and a cop with his dog are put into this situation out of bad luck. This bizarre group needed to work together to survive the two days in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Of course, that didn’t go well. A truly coming-of-age movie like this must not be spoiled, so I highly suggest you watch this new and innovative movie.  

Cocaine Bear has become a very controversial movie among critics and average viewers. Many believe the movie was great, saying it “lived up to the title.” The movie’s money at the box office only backs this up. The film clawed at a whopping $23.1 million in its opening weekend. Now it’s past 30 million and will only rise. Scenes like the bear chasing people up trees and a dramatic fight scene in a bathroom make the movie so successful. A truly coming-of-age film like this must not be spoiled, so I highly suggest you watch this new and innovative movie.