Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear earned $28 million worldwide during its opening weekend. The film was released on February 24 and opened up to good reviews. On its first day in theatres, Cocaine Bear earned $8.6 million, including $2 million from Thursday previews, to take the top spot on the Friday Box Office list. Currently, the film has earned slightly over $23 million domestically during its first weekend at the box office.
Cocaine Bear is about a black bear, which consumes amounts of cocaine and goes on a murder rampage. The film stars Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Alden Ehrenreich, Kahyun Kim, and Christian Convery, among others. It is to be noted Cocaine Bear is Ray’s last acting role and will be the first one to be released after his demise in May last year.
The film is based on events that happened in northern Georgia where a drug smuggler left a duffel bag of cocaine, in September 1985. Subsequently, a 175-pound black bear consumed the contents and was found three months later. The smuggler was identified as Andrew Thornton, who had also passed away during an attempt to abandon the overloaded plane. The bear is now on display at Kentucky Fun Mall.
With a screenplay by Jimmy Warden, Cocaine Bear is backed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Aditya Sood along with Brian Duffield and Max Handelman under the banner Brownstone Productions.