Netflix Developing ‘Cocaine Hippos’, A Movie About What Happened To Drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar’s Zoo Animals
I don’t know about you, but when I see the words “cocaine” and “hippos” next to each other, I pay attention. And when the context is that a major company is developing a movie calledCocaine Hippos, I perk up even more. So Netflix certainly has my attention with its new upcoming comedy, which, oddly enough, is based on a true story.
In the 1980s, notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar demanded that a group of exotic animals be brought in to populate the grounds of his estate as part of his own private zoo. And since he was one of the richest men in the world at the time, what Escobar wanted, Escobar got. Giraffes, zebras, elephants, and, yep, four hippos were all brought in from across the globe, but when he was killed in the early 1990s, the Colombian government stepped in and moved many of those animals elsewhere. All except the hippos. Those were left behind (maybe because hippopotamuses are incredibly dangerous and aggressive?), and the four originals eventually proliferated, leaving dozens of them in a country in which they were never meant to live.
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Netflix’s comedyCocaine Hippos"will follow a group of friends who stumble across a clue leading to Escobar’s lost treasure. They then embark on a wild trip that pits them against con men, local drug lords and the deadly hippos that Escobar smuggled into Colombia back in the ’80s." They’re saying the tone is a mixture ofThe HangoverandTropic Thunder, which certainly sounds like a winning combination on paper.
Jordan VanDina, who has writing credits onWhat Would Diplo Do?and the upcomingAnimaniacsseries, is writing the script, andJermaine Fowler, who had a supporting role inSorry to Bother Youand will soon appear inComing 2 America, is set to star. Fowler is also producing, alongsideMatt SkienaandAdam Goodman, the latter of whom previously worked as the president of Paramount’s motion picture group and now has his own production company called Dichotomy.
Netflix seems like the perfect home for a project like this. It’s easy to picture the streaming service presentingCocaine Hipposto someone who’s just watched a documentary about the drug trade in the 1980s, or, better yet, just completed a binge of the Netflix original seriesNarcos, which features Escobar as a major character.
For more on the hippo invasion of Columbia, check out this video from Vox:
