Paramount Home Entertainment’s Failure to Launch rocketed to the top of the national DVD sales and rental charts for the week ending July 2, staving off a strong challenge from Lionsgate’s two latest Tyler Perry releases, the theatrical hit Madea’s Family Reunion and the stage production Madea Goes to Jail.

“Launch” generated nearly $35 million in combined sales and rental revenue its first week in stores, making it the top-selling title ever during the Fourth of July weekend.

The film’s first-week video earnings are nearly 40 percent of its theatrical gross of $88.7 million.

“Reunion” and “Jail” finished second and third on VideoScan’s First Alert chart for the week, with a third release, the play Why Did I Get Married? coming in at No. 7. Combined, the titles sold 3.6 million DVDs, according to Lionsgate. It is the latest big score in a nine-title franchise with collective home video sales of more than 11 million units.

Sony Pictures’ Ultraviolet debuted on the sales chart at No. 4 after a disappointing box-office run that netted only $18.5 million.

On Home Media Retailing’s rental chart for the week ending July 2, “Launch” bumped last week’s chart topper, Warner’s Syriana, to No. 2.

Ultraviolet bowed at No. 5, with estimated rental earnings of $7.2 million, nearly 40 percent of its box-office gross.

[EDIT TO INCLUDE THIS WEEK'S SALES]

Paramount Home Entertainment’s Failure to Launch retained its grip on the top of both the national video sales and rental charts for the week ending July 9, its second week in first place.

Meanwhile, the record theatrical opening of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel created such a stir among DVD buyers that the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl shot to the No. 2 position on VideoScan’s First Alert sales chart.

Eight Below moved up two notches to No. 3 its third week in stores, giving Buena Vista two of the three top-selling titles of the week.

Source: Reuters

New Line Cinema is in talks to sign Matthew McConaughey to a two-picture deal, with one being a resurrected “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” and the other a Southern-fried comedic action movie titled “The Grackle.”

In October 2003, “Ghost of Girlfriends Past” was four weeks away from production — with Ben Affleck on board to star — when its studio, the Walt Disney Co., pulled the plug.

New Line, a unit of Time Warner Inc., is now in negotiations with Jon Shestack, one of the original producers, to renew the project.

New Line had a similar film in development but liked the idea of pairing a high-concept romantic comedy with McConaughey, a proven star of such movies, seeing the project as a picture that could have broad appeal.

The script, by Josh Lucas and Scott Moore, tells the story of a commitment-phobic guy who is visited by ghosts of girlfriends past, present and future and through that journey discovers he is in love with his childhood sweetheart.

“Grackle” follows a good-old boy bar brawler in New Orleans who gets into trouble when his arch enemy gets out of prison and targets him for revenge.

The script, described as a throwback to movies like “Road House,” was written by attorneys Mike Arnold and Chris Poole, who live in Boulder, Colo., and Chattanooga, Tenn., respectively. A polished version of their screenplay landed at New Line after a five-company bidding war that drove the sale price up to $750,000.

McConaughey last appeared opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in the romantic comedy “Failure to Launch” and recently wrapped work on the upcoming drama “We Are Marshall.”

Audiences were in a rebellious mood, lifting the action tale “V for Vendetta” to the top spot at the weekend box office with a $26.1 million debut.

The Warner Bros. film, which stars Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving in a story of revolution against a totalitarian British government, bumped off the previous weekend’s box-office leaders.

Paramount’s romantic comedy “Failure to Launch,” which debuted at No. 1, slipped to second place with $15.8 million, raising its 10-day domestic total to $48.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney’s family remake “The Shaggy Dog,” which premiered at No. 2, fell to third with $13.6 million, lifting its 10-day total to $35.9 million.

This weekend’s other new wide release, Paramount’s “She’s the Man,” opened in fourth with $11 million. The romance stars Amanda Bynes as a teen disguising herself as a male to play on a boys’ soccer team in a modern update of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

Fox Searchlight’s tobacco-industry satire “Thank You for Smoking” opened to huge numbers in limited release, grossing $260,066 at five theaters for a whopping $52,013 average a cinema. By comparison, “V for Vendetta” averaged $7,767 in 3,365 theaters.

Starring Aaron Eckhart as a spin doctor for cigarette companies, “Thank You for Smoking” gradually expands into nationwide release through April 7. The film was directed by Jason Reitman, son of filmmaker Ivan Reitman (”Ghostbusters“).

Overall box office revenue continued a monthlong decline, with the top-12 movies taking in $93.8 million, down 11 percent from the same weekend last year, when “The Ring Two” opened with $35.1 million.

“V for Vendetta” was adapted by Andy and Larry Wachowski, creators of “The Matrix” franchise, from a graphic novel about a masked freedom fighter battling British fascism in the near future. The film was produced by Joel Silver, who also made “The Matrix” flicks, and directed by James McTeigue, a protege of the Wachowski brothers.

Critics generally gave thumbs up to “V for Vendetta,” calling it a smarter-than-average, visually impressive action thriller. The movie touches on disturbing notions in a post-Sept. 11 world, raising questions about when violence is justified and examining definitions of freedom-fighting vs. terrorism.

“Here we have a movie about a guy who wears a mask the whole picture, with controversial subjects, some hot-button issues. Not the standard-fare movie, and we did a strong opening and attracted a huge amount of people,” producer Silver said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “V for Vendetta,” $26.1 million.

2. “Failure to Launch,” $15.8 million.

3. “The Shaggy Dog,” $13.6 million.

4. “She’s the Man,” $11 million.

5. “The Hills Have Eyes,” $8.1 million.

6. “16 Blocks,” $4.7 million.

7. “Eight Below,” $4.2 million.

8. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion,” $3 million.

9. “The Pink Panther,” $2.5 million.

10. “Aquamarine,” $2 million.

All last week, the jokes were flying endlessly about the title of Paramount Pictures’ new romantic comedy Failure to Launch, starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Many critics and analysts claimed that the title may as well be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the film’s success. Whomever came up with that title is indeed getting the last laugh today, as the movie took an easy victory at the box office, claiming the #1 spot from Madea’s Family Reunion with an estimated opening gross of $24.6 million, an impressive per-theatre average of over $8 thousand in upwards of 3,000 theatres.

Proving that there was an audience eagerly awaiting a strong romantic comedy, the movie make almost a million more its opening weekend than McConaughey’s previous rom-com hit How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days made three years ago. That movie went onto make over $100 million.

The original comedy was joined this weekend by two very different remakes fighting it out for second place. According to estimates, Disney’s The Shaggy Dog, starring Tim Allen as a man who changes into a dog, eeked out the victory with an opening weekend take of roughly $16 million in over 3,500 theatres.

The Wes Craven produced remake of his own 1977 horror film, The Hills Have Eyes, this time directed by Alexandre Aja, was off to a good start on Friday, but dropped back over the weekend to a respectable opening of $15.5 million in 900 fewer theatres than The Shaggy Dog.

Dropping down to fourth place, the Warner Bros. thriller 16 Blocks, starring Bruce Willis and Mos Def, had the smallest second weekend decline of the movies opening last week, and it stayed perched above the other returning movies with $7.3 million, bringing its gross to $22.7 million.

Having passed the total gross of Tyler Perry’s previous film over the weekend, Madea’s Family Reunion took another 54% drop and ended up at #5 with $5.8 million and a cumulative gross of $55.7 million.

Disney’s other dog movie, Eight Below, lost some of its family business to The Shaggy Dog, but still earned another $5.4 million over the weekend. So far, it has grossed $66.4 million in four weeks, and is currently the third highest grossing film to open in 2006.

Last week’s other new films took sharp drops with 20th Century Fox’s teen comedy Aquamarine pulling slightly ahead of Kurt Wimmer sci-fi-action film Ultraviolet, starring Milla Jovovich, in their second weeks. The former made $3.65 million in its second weekend, while the latter took in $3.6 million, putting it neck and neck with Sony’s hit comedy remake The Pink Panther for eighth place. Starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, the latter has grossed more money than any other movie opening in 2006 after just five weeks.

20th Century Fox’s romantic comedy spoof Date Movie held onto the Top 10 with $2.5 million, bringing its box office gross to $44.2 million. Having doubled its production budget, one can probably expect the inevitable Date Movie 2 to spoof Failure to Launch.

After a brief Oscar run in 2005, the long delayed period drama The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp, finally received a national roll-out into just 815 theatres where it made an unimpressive $2.2 million.

Surprisingly, the sharpest decline from last weekend was suffered by the concert film, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, which took a 68% drop in its second weekend, despite strong reviews before opening. Apparently, Chappelle’s many fans were expecting something different from his comeback. It made less than $2 million this weekend, to bring its total to $9.6 million, but it dropped down to the bottom of the Top 12.

After losing the Best Picture Oscar to Crash last Sunday, Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain took a 49% tumble after losing 395 theatres. Still, it has grossed over $81 million, significantly more than the controversial Oscar victor.

Opening in limited release, the erotic drama Ask the Dust, starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek, made roughly $72 thousand in 7 theatres, while the Alfonso Cuaron sheperded Mexican comedy Duck Season made roughly a third that amount in 6 theatres.

Alerting all women and homos! Matthew McConaughey to dance nude on screen for two hours! Okay, that was just a fantasy.

But he does have a new Romantic Comedy coming out with the fabulous Sarah Jessica Parker on February 10. It looks very promising. And…it’s Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. What the fuck else matters?