X-Men Origins: Wolverine might premiere in North Texas

... if we were to get all our local Facebook and Twitter buds to enter their X's on the spot. And if the mapmakers figured out we actually live SOUTH of the Red RIver.

by John P. Meyer

The promoters of X-Men Origins: Wolverine have given up any pretense of propriety or decorum in regard to the plugging of their new Marvel Comics-themed movie: they are appealing to our innate and deeply ingrained sense of regionality, developed over seeming millenia of football/basketball/ice hockey/capture the flag competitions.

What they're offering in order to get a good solid buzz going is the opportunity to have the premiere the movie - along with the attendant traipsing of stars (such as Jackman) across the red carpet - at your local hometown cinema.

(If your local hometown cinema happens to be the one that receives the most zip-code-based submissions on this website.)

I went ahead and entered my zip just to get the ball rolling for NE Dallas, because - judging by my initial viewing of the regional drill-down map plotting X-entries - there were only a couple appearing in our general vicinity.

But a canvas (by cursor overflight) of the big glob of markers showing up above the Red River in Oklahoma reveals that the mappers on the page have shoved us loyal North Texans plumb across into Okie Land. DAMMIT! If there's gerrymandering to be done, Marvel Comics, we'd prefer to do it on our own, thanks very much.

In any case, the deal is this: whichever region ends up with the most votes (via x-mark) will have the chance to welcome Hugh Jackman and some of the other mutants (no offense, Hugh) to their neck of the woods on April 27 for the premiere showing of the movie.

The winning town will be announced on April 20, so vote early (and vote often). And drop the producers a line letting them know we actually live BELOW the Texas/Oklahoma border.