Hollywood Sending A Drug Addicted Bear To Space?
The man behind Cocaine Bear, Jimmy Warden, joked that he would like to take the grizzly to space, but he was completely serious about turning the story into a franchise.
Cocaine Bear is already a great concept — who doesn’t want to see a comedy horror about a bear on cocaine? But Jimmy Warden, the mind behind the screenplay, has even grander ideas in mind if the off-the-wall film ends up being a franchise. When asked about a potential sequel idea in an interview with Variety, Warden responded that he would want to do many sequels and that “Cocaine Bear in Space is where we would probably end.”
When the interviewer attempted to ascertain if Warden was joking about the concept, Warden simply responded “No, I’m f***ing with you about Cocaine Bear Goes to Space.” It seems like Warden is definitely ready to push the concept as far as the studios are willing to let him take it. To his credit, there would actually be some historic precedence to this idea.
While the concept would be scary in real life, Cocaine Bear is definitely positioning itself as a comedy with horror elements. There have been plenty of horror and horror-comedy franchises that went the same path and eventually brought their creatures to space. Some notable examples include Leprechaun 4: In Space, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Critters 4, and Jason X.
While that may not be the most prestigious list of films, Cocaine Bear could always beat the odds and become a good version of a horror-gone-to-space film. Of course, this time, there won’t be a real-life news story to draw inspiration from. The script for the upcoming first film in the potential franchise was inspired after Warden read about a bear in the 1980s who overdosed after finding a ton of cocaine in a failed drug smuggling attempt.
Before we see any crazy sequel concepts, we’ll have to wait and find out how well Cocaine Bear does in theaters. The concept has certainly captured people’s imagination, and there’s a good chance this film could be a sleeper hit. If it ends up making enough money, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t expect to see sequels in the future.
After all, Cocaine Bear has a relatively small budget of $35 million, which could easily be made back if there’s enough interest. According to the Variety interview, the bear (brought to life by Weta FX) is where most of the budget went. With the experience Weta FX has making the bear and the assets they have now, it might be less expensive to do the visual effects for the bear again in the future.
As the very literal title suggests, Cocaine Bear follows a group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens in a Georgia forest who have to evade a rampaging black bear after it ingests a heroic amount of cocaine. Elizabeth Banks directs the screenplay by Jimmy Warden. The film stars Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Ray Liotta, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery, Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ayoola Smart, Kahyn Kim, Matthew Rhys, and more.
Cocaine Bear is now in theaters. It has pretty good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so far, so make sure to check it out if you’re interested. If you want the series to eventually go to space, you should check it out.
