With the ever-increasing prices of movie tickets, several people enjoy the discounts they can receive at the box office.

Senior citizens, military personnel and students all can receive discounted rates at cinemas, but not in Joplin.

Northstar 14, who is owned by Wallace Theaters, does not offer discounts for students. It is a company policy for Wallace not to offer these discounts.

So what can be done to ease the cost of a movie ticket?

Aside from the always-popular solutions of waiting until movies are released at the $1 theaters or on video, students can visit Missouri Southern’s ticket office on the bottom floor of the Billingsly Student Center and purchase Supersavers. These are accepted at Northpark 14 only for movies that have been out for at least two weeks.

These Supersavers are sold by Wallace Theaters to a broker, who in turn sells the tickets to the Southern ticket office.

Aside from the lack of discounts, Joplin suffers in the range of films shown. Mainly only major movies, mostly with major actors, make their way to Joplin, but some truly unique and provocative movies have nary been seen by Joplinites, at least not in a theater.

Joplin needs a place to

compete with Northstar 14. With any luck, a company such as Cinemark USA or Dickinson Theatres will set its sights on Joplin with a new theater, one with discounts for students and other groups and a broader selection of films.