<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 comedy - 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 in the newspaper that his childhood friend Chris Chambers has been stabbed to death . 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>

When was the movie stand by me made