Elizabeth Bank’s upcoming black comedyCocaine Bearis one movie to watch out for. The movie, inspired by real-life events that took place in 1985, sees a black bear ingesting a duffel bag full of cocaine and going on a murderous rampage in a small Georgia town, where a group of locals and tourists join forces to survive. No matter how absurd the situation sounds, by the looks of the promotional material, it’s going to be a comedy gold mine. Empire has now revealed a new look at the upcoming film withan exclusive image.
The new image sees the movie’s main antagonist, late actorRay Liotta, with a gun in hand,surrounded by his gang looking for the bear in the forest. Banks reveals in her interview with Empire that there’s more going under the surface than meets the eye. Per the director, the bear on the coke-induced rampage is a symptom of the wider war on drugs, further revealing that the “ultimate baddie” of the feature is a drug kingpin played by Liotta. She explained, “In the mid-’80s, there was this big reaction to the crack epidemic in American society that actually created so many other monsters,” Banks explains. “There’s a bit of allegory in here, as well as true chaos.”
Thepreviously revealed trailershowcases various instances of locals and tourists coming in contact with the coke-charged bear to hilarious and understandably, shell-shocked, responses. However, Banks revealed that she has taken inspiration from the likes ofSam Raimi, the Coen Brothers, andQuentin Tarantinoto bring out the blood-soaked comedic chaos on screen. “It lulls you into this time and place in the ‘80s, in the mountains of Georgia. Then once the party starts, it’s a real humdinger.”
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The black comedy castsKeri Russellas Colette Matthews,Brooklynn Princeas Colette’s daughter,O’Shea Jackson Jr.as Howard,Christian Convery-Jenningsas Henry,Alden Ehrenreichas Marty,Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Bob,Matthew Rhysas Andrew C. Thornton II, andAaron Hollidayas Stache. Further rounding off the cast are actorsJesse Tyler Ferguson,Kristofer Hivju,Hannah Hoekstra,Margo Martindale, and Liotta. The feature is produced by Banks,Phil Lord,Christopher Miller,Aditya Sood,Max HandelmanandBrian Duffield.
Cocaine Bearwill be released to theaters on July 03, 2025. Until then, you can check out the new image below:
