Paper Towns is a 2015 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jake Schreier from a screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by John Green.

The film stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne, with Halston Sage, Austin Abrams, and Justice Smith in supporting roles.

The story follows the search by Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Wolff) for Margo Roth Spiegelman (Delevingne), his childhood friend and object of affection.

[5] Quentin "Q" Jacobsen lives across the street from Margo Roth Spiegelman in Jefferson Park, a subdivision of Orlando, Florida.

She is a childhood friend from whom he has drifted over nine years after they discovered the corpse of a local lawyer, Robert Joyner, who killed himself after his divorce.

After reaching adolescence, Margo becomes one of the popular girls, with an adventurous reputation, at Jefferson Park High School.

Her parents will not report her missing to the police as she has run away from home repeatedly before, and they believe their daughter will return eventually.

After seeing a recently attached Woody Guthrie poster on her bedroom wall, Quentin realizes that Margo deliberately left clues to let him know where she is going.

[8] Although the novel features a scene set in SeaWorld the location was changed after the release of the CNN documentary Blackfish which was highly critical of the theme park keeping orcas.

[12] Although the novel is set primarily in Orlando, Florida, North Carolina's tax incentives for filmmakers made it the affordable choice for principal photography according to Green.

[23] The soundtrack for Paper Towns consists of new and previously released material from Twin Shadow, Santigold, Grouplove, Haim, Vampire Weekend, The Mountain Goats, The War on Drugs, Galantis as well as Nat Wolff and his brother Alex.

Box office pundits projected the film would earn around $20 million in its opening weekend, facing direct competition with Pixels and the holdover of Ant-Man and Minions.

Box office analysts also noted that it could have easily over-performed and had a higher debut, if teen girls – who are its primary target – had embraced the film and word-of-mouth had gone viral.

[34][36] It was released in 18 additional countries in late July and early August, including Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Paper Towns isn't as deep or moving as it wants to be, yet it's still earnest, well-acted, and thoughtful enough to earn a place in the hearts of teen filmgoers of all ages.

[38] In CinemaScore polls conducted during its opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.