[ECT0-1]

Does anyone know when the first franchise OFFICIALLY formed, and which one it was?

[DrMadKatz]

I am not sure there is such thing as an Officially formed franchise . That would mean that Sony , Columbia Pictures and later on , Ghost Corps had rented / leased / or 'given' some fan club the rights to use their Intellectual Property and trademarks / copyrights ....... to which as far as I know .... they haven't .


( Here is what I know , from my own personal experience . )

Back in the 80's , after GB - the movie came out , there was a 'fan club ' and magazine subscription that you could buy ..... it came with a 'certification' 'signed' by L. Tully .
Also in 84 , was a sticker book that also had a 'certification' in the back .

That was about it .

Years later , I read on the internet , that Sony , as a promote for another GB movie , made a 'franchise request' ...where people would contact them and get an 'official certification' . After an amount of time , Sony stopped the promo .

I am pretty sure that Sony and etc,etc,etc .... never thought that in the years and years to come , that GB would have it's own 'cult following' , similar to Rocky Horror Picture Show / Star Trek / StarWars ....... where it's fans would dressup and do community events , like fund raisers , cancer research , children hospitals etc .

I do hope that Sony never sues the crap out of us ( fans ) . That would be a sad day .

As for 'official' , i hear it tossed around by a few other fan-clubs once in awhile , along with ' Been around since 20whenever ' .
--- It is a sad tactic used , trying to establish dominance over other clubs .
I personally don't like trying to play the 'Who has the Bigger Walker Peck' game . Our first 'franchise' was the same year after the movie was released . I've got 20 to 40 years on some of these 'young whipper-snappers' . Second franchise was made because we wanted to go invade a local theater showing of Afterlife with other Ghostbusters fans ..... and could not find any actiove groups ...... so we made one .

Beyond that ....if anyone else has any GB history , we love to hear it .

[DrMadKatz]

Google has found these ::

https://ghostbusterscities.com/franchis ... ters-club/

https://ghostbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Of ... lub_(1984)

The first Official Ghostbusters Fan Club was founded on July 3, 1984 by Mark Lister and Jim Garvey of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, who paid Columbia Pictures an estimated $10,000 for the right to operate an official fan club. The fan club operated domestically, as well as internationally. Applicants would send in their money and fill out a ghostbusting job application. There was no guaranteed acceptance, but no applicant was ever rejected - even Samantha, a dog who sent in her paw print as proof of her interest in Ghostbusters. For the $8.95 registration fee, members received the following

A personal membership card.
The official Ghostbusters metal badge.
A Certificate of Anti-Paranormal Proficiency, four "This Property Protected by Ghostbusters" color stickers.
An Ectomobile sticker.
A Ghostbusters logo patch.
One-year subscription to the quarterly newsletter entitled The Official Trade Journal of Certified Ghostbusters.