<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $8.2 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $286.2 million </Td> </Tr> <P> The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, with Richard Haydn and Eleanor Parker . The film is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical of the same name, composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II . The film's screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, adapted from the stage musical's book by Lindsay and Crouse . Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg, Austria in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children . After bringing and teaching love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith . </P> <P> The film was released on March 2, 1965 in the United States, initially as a limited roadshow theatrical release . Although critical response to the film was widely mixed, the film was a major commercial success, becoming the number one box office movie after four weeks, and the highest - grossing film of 1965 . By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest - grossing film of all - time--surpassing Gone with the Wind--and held that distinction for five years . The film was just as popular throughout the world, breaking previous box - office records in twenty - nine countries . Following an initial theatrical release that lasted four and a half years, and two successful re-releases, the film sold 283 million admissions worldwide and earned a total worldwide gross of $286,000,000 . </P>

When did the sound of music first come out