Well, 2023 may just be the year of movies about animals on drugs. Elizabeth Banks, director and star of the upcoming film “Cocaine Bear” is apparently open to maybe making a sequel, “Cocaine Shark.” The phrase “cocaine shark” started trending earlier this month. This was due to a wave of memes linking the New Zealand Police seizing 3.5 tons of the illicit substance from the Pacific Ocean to Bank’s new horror comedy.
This all seemed to culminate in a poll posted on AMC Theater’s official Twitter, asking fans to choose between a cocaine bear and a cocaine shark. Bear won the poll in an absolute landslide. “Cocaine Bear”’s official Twitter even responded back to the poll with a mildly threatening “i’m watching how you vote.”
Banks heard the clamoring for a “Cocaine Shark” sequel loud and clear. “I’ve seen that. If there’s a great story, then sure,” she said when asked whether she would do another project featuring an animal doing rails. “Jaws with cocaine, I don’t see how that loses.”
The director has also been clear that “Cocaine Bear” will not shy away from the gore. “In my initial presentation [I] brought to the table a lot of really gruesome real life photography of people who have had limbs ripped off and things like that, and giant gashes and bites,” Banks said. “And [I] just sort of said, ‘I want this…’ I wanted The Revenant.”
“The Revenant” was a 2015 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. His character has to survive in the wilderness after being attacked by a (probably not coked up) bear. “The first couple kills have to be that gnarly so that you understand that everyone should be afraid of the bear. That was a big part of it for me,” Banks added.
Because, while clearly framed are a horror comedy, “Cocaine Bear” is loosely based on a real-life incident in 1985. Where a black bear helped itself to a duffle back full of the devil’s dandruff. This film is an obvious play on what the bear could have done while on drugs. While no drug-addled sharks have been found (yet), the concept for “Cocaine Shark” would probably be pretty similar.
“Cocaine Bear” blows into theaters on February 24th, 2023. Watch the trailer below:
