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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Kyle O'Sullivan

Cocaine Bear's wild trailer and ridiculous true story of animal's coke-fuelled rampage

A killer bear going on a horrifying coke-fuelled rampage in the woods seems like the sort of ludicrous storyline that would feature in a low budget straight-to-TV movie.

But it's actually a big Hollywood blockbuster with an A-list cast - and the strangest part of it all is that it's based on an unbelievable true story.

The first trailer of the incredible film dropped this week - and fans are going absolutely wild for the mindboggling concept.

In the hilarious yet terrifying scenes, a bear ingests a massive packet of cocaine that has fallen out of the sky after a drug transfer went wrong.

The ultimate party animal then gets a taste for the Class A drug, as well as human flesh as he starts brutally killing tourists in the forest in increasingly gruesome ways.

Cocaine Bear is a ridiculous new movie - and it's based on a true story (Youtube/Universal Pictures)

We see a couple taking photographs of the bear who are jumped on and then dragged away, while one man hides in a tree before being ripped limb from limb.

Remarkably, the movie is actually based on the real life story of a 175-pound (79 kg) American black bear that ingested a duffel bag full of cocaine in December 1985.

The coke had been dropped out of an airplane by Andrew C. Thornton II, a former narcotics officer and convicted drug smuggler, because his aircraft was carrying too heavy a load.

After chucking the bag filled with $14million (£12million) worth of product out of the plane, Thornton tried to escape out the same way.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, he "hit his head on the tail of the aircraft" and failed to open his parachute.

His body was discovered by authorities in a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee in September 1985 along with two guns, several knives and also $4,500 in cash.

The drugged up bear starts attacking tourists in the woods (Irish Mirror)

The unoccupied plane he was flying was later found crashed several hours away in the mountains of North Carolina - and the authorities discovered nine duffel bags full of cocaine after retracing the flight path.

However, it was what happened to the tenth bag that is truly remarkable.

Three months later, a dead bear was found south of the state line between Tennessee and Georgia in the Chattahoochee National Forest. alongside 40 opened plastic containers of coke.

The curious bear ripped his way into the bag and managed to eat an extortionate amount of the drug before a fatal overdose.

The chief medical examiner at the Georgia State Crime Lab said: "Its stomach was literally packed to the brim with cocaine. There isn’t a mammal on the planet that could survive that

"Cerebral haemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure, stroke. You name it, that bear had it."

Cocaine Bear is now on display to the public (Wikipedia/Ferrett333)

Wanting to preserve the bear forever, it was taxidermied by officials and donated to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, where it was displayed at a visitor centre.

Since then he has been on display in a Nashville pawn shop, bought by a country music star and purchased by a Chinese immigrant for just $200.

Having been dubbed 'Cocaine Bear' in 2015, the beast is now on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky.

Also known as Pablo Esco-bear in some circles, the poor animal is now set to have legions of fans thanks to the new movie, which is scheduled to be released in February 2023.

The Universal Pictures film, which is directed by Hunger Games and Pitch Perfect star Elizabeth Banks, has a cast filled with big names.

The Americans actress Keri Russell, Modern Family favourite Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ice Cube's son, rapper O'Shea Jackson Jr, all star.

The bear is on one hell of a high (Youtube/Universal Pictures)

But the biggest star of all is legendary actor Ray Liotta, who will be seen in one of his final ever roles.

The Goodfellas actor tragically died in his sleep in May this year at the age of 67 in the Dominican Republic during the filming of Dangerous Waters.

Liotta's character is a drug kingpin who dispatches two of his underlings to find and recover the missing contraband.

It's Bank' third feature after last directing Charlie's Angels in 2019 and Pitch Perfect 3 in 2015.

While it is based on the true story, the movie does have a lot more blood and gore than in reality.

Do you have a story to share? Email webfeatures@trinitymirror.com

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