9 TO 5 is heading back to theaters, with ticket sales proceeds going to Dolly's Imagination Library

9 to 5, the 1980 workplace comedy that turned Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin into an unlikely trio of corporate avengers with a feminist cause, is getting a theatrical encore, in the wake of Parton’s death — and it’s all for a good cause. 

20th Century Studios will release the newly restored film to U.S. theaters for a one-week run from October 9–15, 2026, with tickets now on sale.

The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century’s parent company, has announced it will donate net proceeds from U.S. ticket sales during the October window to The Dollywood Foundation, benefiting Parton's Imagination Library, the free book-gifting program the country singer and philanthropist launched in 1995 in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write. What started as a hometown effort in Sevier County, Tennessee, has since expanded to five countries. According to the Library’s website, the program mails a specially selected book each month to enrolled children from birth to age five, at no cost to families, regardless of household income, with kids who stay enrolled for the full stretch receiving 60 books by the time they graduate from the program.

The Imagination Library is the flagship initiative of a broader philanthropic operation. According to the Foundation’s website, Parton established The Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to inspire educational success among children in Sevier County, and its efforts have ranged well beyond books: there was a dropout-prevention mentorship program in the '90s; it has offered a needs-based scholarships to TN high schoolers since 2000; and it started a disaster relief fund that delivered more than $12 million to families after the 2016 Sevier County wildfires and additional millions to families following 2024's Hurricane Helene.

The timing of the announcement isn't random. The re-release was unveiled on the inaugural "Give Like Dolly Day," a new annual observance landing on 9/25 — a wink to the film's title — meant to encourage charitable giving in Parton's spirit of getting kids to "Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More."

9 to 5 was directed by Colin Higgins from a script he co-wrote with Patricia Resnick. The movie itself was Fonda's brainchild, writes Juke Box Time Machine, as she developed it through her own production company after talking with members of a real-world working women's advocacy group, and pitched Higgins and Resnick to bring it to the screen. It went on to become the second-highest-grossing film of 1980, trailing only The Empire Strikes Back, and it scored an Oscar nod for its title track, “9 to 5,” written and performed by Parton herself.

Tickets are available now at fandango.com/9to5.

Source: 20th Century Studios