<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $8 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $52.3 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming - of - age drama film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell . The film, whose plot is based on Stephen King's novella The Body (1982) and title is derived from Ben E. King's eponymous song, which plays over the ending credits, tells the story of four boys in a small town in Oregon who go on a hike to find the dead body of a missing child . </P> <P> Author Gordie Lachance reads a newspaper article titled "Attorney Christopher Chambers Fatally Stabbed In Restaurant". Seeing two young boys ride past on bicycles, Gordie narrates a flashback (later revealed to be Gordie writing) to a childhood incident when he and three buddies undertook a journey to find the body of a missing boy near the town of Castle Rock, Oregon, over Labor Day weekend in 1959 . </P>

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