With “Cocaine Bear” coming to cinemas shortly, a well-timed real life event is causing some discussion about a potential wide cinematic universe of wild animals on drugs.
Social media is abuzz with the idea of “Cocaine Shark” after it was reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday that New Zealand police have recovered more than three tons of cocaine found floating in the Pacific Ocean.
The comparisons were inevitable to “Cocaine Bear,” the Elizabeth Banks-directed film which takes a horror comedy fictional spin on a real life incident in 1985 involving a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and a black bear that found the massive lost stash of blow and ingested it.
AMC Theaters soon got in on the action, conducting a poll on Twitter asking fans to choose between a cocaine bear and a cocaine shark – the bear won by a mile.
The story got around enough that People Magazine was able to talk to Banks whilst out on the publicity circuit for her film and she revealed she’s aware of the news. Asked if she’d seen the story and if she would tackle another project featuring an animal on cocaine, she responded: “I’ve seen that. If there’s a great story, then sure.”
Banks is busy out promoting “Cocaine Bear” and has been speaking fairly candidly about her career, saying: “‘Cocaine Bear’ is a ginormous risk. This could be a career ender for me.” The project is said to be budgeted in the mid-to-high $30 million range with most of the money going to Weta FX’s work on the bear.
The film will be getting a Super Bowl TV spot this weekend, whilst a new Super Bowl-themed artwork for the film is up on Twitter. The movie itself opens in cinemas on February 24th and is reportedly tracking for a $7-12 million opening weekend.
