Bradley Cooper’s first star vehicle won its first weekend at the box office and made back most of its $27 million budget. Limitless, a drama about a struggling writer who rockets to success after he starts taking a brain-enhancing drug, took in $19 million this weekend, edging out the Johnny Depp-voiced animated Western Rango. But Rango still made a strong showing, dropping only 32 percent to earn $16 million in its third week in theaters. Matthew McConaughey’s well-reviewed thriller The Lincoln Lawyer opened with $13.4 million, less than most of his recent movies have made on their first weekends.
