Stand by Me
1986 · 89 min
Directed by Rob Reiner. Written by Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon, Stephen King. Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell.
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
Critics 89% · audiences 94% · streaming on Netflix · 1 Oscar nomination
What they said about Stand by Me
- 2016
a staple of youthful nostalgia for its deft straddling of the line between childhood and adulthood
— Rolling Stones Charles Bramesco - 2016
the rare movie that necessarily gets better with time
— Rolling Stones Charles Bramesco
How it got made
Stand By Me was adapted from the Stephen King novella The Body. Bruce A. Evans sent a copy of The Body to Karen Gideon, the wife of his friend and writing partner Raynold Gideon, on August 29, 1983, as a gift for her birthday. Both Gideon and Evans quickly became fans of the novella and shortly thereafter contacted King's agent, Kirby McCauley, seeking to negotiate film rights; McCauley replied that King's terms were $100,000 and 10% of the gross profits. Although the money was not an issue, the share of gross profits was considered excessive, especially considering that no stars could be featured to help sell the movie. In response, Evans and Gideon pursued an established director, Adrian Lyne, to help sell the project.
After reading the novella, Lyne teamed up with Evans and Gideon, but all the studios the trio approached turned the project down except for Martin Shafer at Embassy Pictures. Embassy spent four months negotiating the rights with McCauley, settling on $50,000 and a smaller share of the profits, and Evans and Gideon spent eight weeks writing the screenplay. Evans and Gideon asked to also produce the film, but Shafer suggested they team up with Andrew Scheinman, a more experienced producer. Embassy was unwilling to meet Lyne's salary for directing the film until Evans and Gideon agreed to give up half of their share of profits to meet Lyne's asking fee.
Lyne was going to direct the film, but would not have been available to start production until the spring of 1986. Reiner, who had just began his career as a director, was sent the script by Scheinman; Reiner's initial reaction was that the script had promise but "no focus". After Lyne withdrew from the project, Reiner signed on to direct in September 1984.
At the box office
The film was a box office success in North America. It opened in a limited release in 16 theaters on August 8, 1986, and grossed $242,795, averaging $15,174 per theater. The film then had its wide opening in 745 theaters on August 22 and grossed $3,812,093, averaging $5,116 per theater and ranking number 2. The film's widest release was 848 theaters, and it ended up earning $52,287,414 overall, well above its $8million budget.
Beginning March 27, 2026, the film was re-released for a week in honor of its 40th anniversary. On April 10, 2026, Stand by Me began its 40th anniversary re-release in European, Middle Eastern, and African markets. Per Box Office Mojo, the film's overall 40th anniversary earnings were $700,349 domestically (U.S.) and $74,700 internationally as of May 15, 2026.
Afterwards
In a 2011 piece entitled "25 years of Stand by Me", writer Alex Hannaford opined that "[for] anyone older than about 33, Stand by Me remains one of the greatest films to come out of the Eighties." Hannaford added that the film "has a charm and depth that seems to resonate with each generation".
In 2016, several writers commemorated the 30-year anniversary of the film's release. Rolling Stones Charles Bramesco called Stand by Me "timeless", "a staple of youthful nostalgia for its deft straddling of the line between childhood and adulthood", and "the rare movie that necessarily gets better with time". Others described the film as a "coming-of-age classic" and as a film that stood at "the apex of the '80s kids' movie boom".