I know exactly who to call if there’s something strange in the neighborhood but who am I gonna call about the questions I have about Ghostbusters Fan Fest?

Described as a “once-in-a-lifetime event”, Ghostbusters Fan Fest will take place on the Sony Pictures Studio Lot in Culver City, California on June 7-8, 2019. A collaboration between Sony, Wizard World, and Ghost Corps, it’s the franchise’s first ever official fan festival. It comes just in time to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of the original 1984 Ghostbusters film and surely to hype up the new Jason Reitman 2020 sequel.

Tickets for the event went on sale on Tuesday but fans found themselves with a bit of sticker shock. Ticket packages start at $499 and run up to $1,499.

The steep ticket prices have already priced out a large portion of cash-strapped fans and left many others questioning whether or not Ghostbusters Fan Fest will be able to deliver on the “can’t miss event” that it’s promising to be. The folks at Proton Charging even went through the trouble of combing through the available information and listed out every thing offered within each ticket package. Still, there remains some unanswered questions.


Is Ghostbusters Fan Fest really a “once-in-a-lifetime” event?

One could maybe justify the high cost of a ticket to Ghostbusters Fan Fest if we truly knew that this kind of event would never happen again. However, given that the Ghostbusters fandom is a very active and passionate one, the audience for this kind of event is all but guaranteed. With a new 2020 film on the way to reinvigorate the already fervent fanbase, will Sony/Wizard World/Ghost Corps truly be able to say “no thank you” to hosting future fan events?

Will there be anyone from Ghostbusters: Answer The Call in attendance? Or any female featured guests?

The Mary Sue pointed out that as of right now the event has no confirmed female guests set to participate. Of course, this could change in the future but it is a little worrisome when the guest roster doesn’t include any cast members from the 2016 film and Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts from the two original films are also notably missing. I mean, c’mon, how can you have a Ghostbusters event without Janine Melnitz?

The event says it’s a two day affair but the only event mentioned for the first day is the “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters 2” screening. Will this truly be a two-day event or more like a day and a half event? 

Without concrete programming details, it’s hard to gauge how much bang one is getting for their buck. The only mention I could find of Friday in the event details was for the movie screenings. It’d be nice if the event could clarify what fans can expect. Will there be two full days of programming? Or will fans actually only get one-and-a-half days of ghostbusting?

Are food and beverage included in the cost of the ticket or will you have to purchase your own? Are you allowed to bring your own food and snacks?

The make or break of any con or fan experience is how nourished you are.  If fans are expected to pony up additional money for food and water, the next logical question is will it be overpriced? Will there be Ecto-Cooler? Is Krispy Kreme gonna bring back their Ghostbuster donuts? These are things we need to know! Because a hangry fan is much scarier than any ghost can be.

How many people will actually be allowed to purchase tickets?

Sony/Wizard World/Ghost Corps haven’t stated the event’s capacity number. If the event is truly unique and exclusive, then a small, limited number of tickets warrants the high prices they’re asking for. However, if this event is hosting a medium-sized con’s amount of people, then the pricing is excessive.

Again, how many people will be allowed to attend the event?

There’s a big difference between a fan event of a few thousand vs 10,000+. It’s the difference between being able to enjoy the fest’s full range of activities or actually end up waiting in hours-long lines for one or two experiences and/or the chance to buy event-exclusive collectibles.

Wizard World is literally in the business of running fan events so I’m optimistic that most, if not all, of these questions will be answered in the coming months but I do think it would’ve gone a long way to assuage fan anxieties if they had had a more thorough and robust rollout.

For more information on Ghostbusters Fan Fest you can visit the official site.