Matthew McConaughey has revealed which of his films earns him the highest residuals, thanks in part to its enduring popularity around Valentine’s Day.

Appearing on Thursday’s episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the 56-year-old Oscar-winning actor declared that his beloved 2003 romcom How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days “is the gift that keeps on giving.”

Directed by Donald Petrie, the modern classic starred McConaughey as an advertising executive who bets he can make any woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Coincidentally, he meets Andie (Kate Hudson), a how-to columnist looking to date a man for a piece on how to intentionally drive him away, using the common mistakes women make.

Hailing the movie as “probably my favorite romcom I’ve done and a lot of people love that romcom,” McConaughey noted that “it still pays the best mailbox money of any film I’ve ever done. By far. By lengths.”

He refrained from disclosing just how much he earns in residuals, but added, “When it used to be just DVDs or cable, every March I’d get a big check because Valentine’s Day.”

“But, I mean, look: the movie, for me, for that genre, let me just own that genre. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days… that’s a real anchor in the romcom genre through time.”

Residuals are additional payments to those who worked on films and television shows, negotiated by unions, for reruns and other airings after the project’s initial release. The payments, which decline over time, are pegged to several factors including the length of a movie or show, the size of a role, the budget of a production, and where the film or show is offered.

In recent years, they have become a lightning rod for controversy in Hollywood, with numerous actors speaking out about how little they make, even on projects that continue to attract audiences years later.

It became a central issue in the simultaneous actors’ and writers’ strikes of 2023, which essentially shut down the industry for roughly five months.

Earlier this year, The Santa Clause star David Krumholtz, who played Bernard the Elf, opened up about the residuals he makes from the holiday franchise.

“They’re minimal because the movie plays so much,” he told Page Six in May. “This is how residuals work: every time it plays, you make less. It’s a grade scale.”

The Brady Bunch actor Eve Plumb also revealed in her debut memoir, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond, published in April, that she and her co-stars do not receive residuals from reruns of the beloved sitcom.

“If I had a dime for every rerun episode, I’d pay off the national deficit,” she wrote. “I don’t.”