The Kings of Summer

The Kings of Summer follows three teenage friends who, fed up with their parents, run away for the summer and build a makeshift house in a clearing in the woods. Joe chafes under the control of his single father, Frank, while Patrick finds his own parents overbearing, and the eccentric Biaggio simply tags along. The three set out to live by their own rules, away from adult supervision and responsibility. Their experiment in independence strains the friendship, and the arrival of Kelly, a girl both Joe and Patrick are drawn to, complicates life at the house. The film is a comedy-drama about growing up and the difficulty of looking after oneself.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts directed from a screenplay by Chris Galletta. It was the first of the director's two listed features, followed by Kong: Skull Island in 2017. Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moisés Arias play the three runaways, with Nick Offerman as Frank, Erin Moriarty as Kelly and Craig Cackowski as Mr. Larson among a credited cast of 59. Produced by Big Beach and Low Spark Films, the film was made for about 2 million dollars.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.1 from around 87,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7 from roughly 1,270 votes. A critics' rating of 6.9 from 117 reviews is close to those audience scores, suggesting broadly similar reactions from reviewers and viewers. The film had a limited theatrical footprint, and its worldwide box office of about 1 million dollars was below its production budget.