The 2023 comedy thriller Cocaine Bear may be getting a sequel, with reports suggesting that an ursine follow-up is in development.
Last year’s Cocaine Bear was an interesting saga that didn’t quite live up to its promise of its title. Ahead of its release, the film garnered plenty of interest because of the irresistible nature of its premise: it’s a ‘trapped in the woods’ story where tourists, locals and criminals are hunted by a terrifying predator that, (as the title implies) is off its head on cocaine.
The ensemble cast, the 80s setting, the late Ray Liotta making an appearance – there was much to enjoy, although when all was said and done, there was a feeling that Elizabeth Banks’ film didn’t quite hang together as well as everybody was hoping it would.
Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Alden Ehrenrich, and Liotta co-starred alongside the titular bear in the R-rated film. If you apply the 2.5 rule to the film’s theatrical grosses, its $89 million against a production budget of around $30-35 million means that it likely just eked into profit for Universal and will continue to earn cash during its second life on streaming.
Read more: Cocaine Bear review | Grizzly good fun
Despite those mixed reviews, that seems to be good enough for Universal, given that Daniel Richtman (via Dark Horizons) is reporting that the studio is developing a sequel. Banks herself has claimed that she’d love to return, stating, “If I got the opportunity to surprise the audience and delight myself again, I would take it.”
At present, there’s no confirmation that this is likely to happen.
In fact, there’s no real confirmation of anything, beyond a sequel being in development. Considering that it was the high concept behind this project which garnered all of the buzz, we”re guessing that Universal is looking to repeat the trick twice. So let the speculation begin here – which drugs and predators will be combined next time?
Personally, we’re going for MDMA Tiger, a 90s-set rave culture film that throws an escaped circus tiger into the Manchester dance scene. John SImm is the grizzled copper (and former raver) who has to track down the off-its-head apex predator. Chaos and carnage ensue. If nothing else, the soundtrack would be banging.
Let us know your ideas for a sequel below and we’ll get back to you if and when we hear more regarding Cocaine Bear 2.
