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Universal made an 8-bit 'Cocaine Bear' video game that's R-rated murder bear 'Pac-Man' - play it now!
Think you can get the high score?
![Cocaine Bear (2023)](/sites/syfy/files/2023/02/screen_shot_2023-02-14_at_9.12.47_am.jpg)
Snorting cocaine and munching on human flesh are often frowned upon in civilized society. The good news is that you can now do both without the looming threat of a life sentence.
How, you ask? Simple! Boot up your computer and try to get the high score on Universal Pictures' 8-bit video game inspired by the Cocaine Bear blockbuster film (out in theaters everywhere next week). Essentially a gorier version of Pac-Man, the game — appropriately subtitled The Rise of Pablo Escobear — allows the player to control the titular predator, who must eat as many people as possible while on a bloody rampage fueled by the powdery nose candy.
The retro 8-bit aesthetic is a direct homage to the film's mid-1980s setting. Indeed, the screenplay penned by Jimmy Warden (The Babysitter) was inspired by the 1985 incident where an American black bear overdosed on cocaine when a shipment was dropped over Georgia.
"l knew I wasn’t just going to have the bear die of a drug overdose. That’d be kind of a downer," Warden explains in the official production notes. "So, I thought it could kill a lot of people instead. Building this script was such an insane journey. The instant I came across the story of the cocaine bear, I knew I had to write it. How could I not? Dreaming up different ways for a bear on cocaine to kill people in the woods is the most fun I’ve ever had writing a script."
Cocaine Bear producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — who originally brought the project to Universal — were genuinely curious to see if they could actually get away with making a film this crazy. "We always say that we think of the movies we work on as pranks, and we thought the ultimate prank would be to make a really good movie called Cocaine Bear," Lord admits in the aforementioned production notes.
Miller continues: "Jimmy is very thoughtful in what he does. So what’s crazy about this movie is that it has a really sweet heart, even though it has a, uh, lot of bear murder."
Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear arrives on the big screen next Friday — Feb. 24. Click here to purchase tickets.
Looking for more creature-based thrills? Jordan Peele's Nope is currently streaming on Peacock.