http://beyondrealitynews.com/2017/1...ing-claims-behind-a-billion-dollar-franchise/
Pedophilia and Abuse claims come to light behind a Billion-Dollar Franchise
A legal spat reveals the real-life demonologists in the $1.2 billion-grossing horror movies may not have been nearly as pious as they’re portrayed.
Fans of The Conjuring horror movie franchise will be familiar with the romantic tale of Ed and Lorraine Warren, real-life married demonologists who claimed their Catholic faith helped them fend off the forces of evil.
In the trailer for the first film, Warner Bros.’ New Line division sold The Conjuring as “based on the true story of the Warrens,” but according to legal filings and recordings obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, it’s possible that even the simple depiction of the Warrens as a devoted and pious couple might have stretched the truth past the breaking point.
It appears that top studio executives were made aware just weeks after the first film opened in 2013 of allegations that, in the early 1960s, Ed Warren initiated a relationship with an underage girl with Lorraine’s knowledge.
Now in her 70s, Judith Penney has said in a sworn declaration that she lived in the Warrens’ house as Ed’s lover for four decades. It is unclear whether Warner Bros. took any action in response to these allegations, but the sequel continued to portray them as a happy couple in a conventional marriage. Warners declined to comment, but an attorney for the studio has asserted in court papers that a disgruntled author and a producer suing the studio over profits from the franchise are pushing the story of the Warrens’ personal lives as part of a vendetta. Ed Warren died in 2006, and Lorraine Warren’s attorney, Gary Barkin, says the family has no knowledge of the alleged conduct and his client, now 90, is in declining health and unable to respond to the allegations.
Movie marketers long have found value in claiming that films are based on fact, but there are no explicit rules governing how far filmmakers can deviate from the truth while still including “based on a true story” in advertisements. When challenges have arisen in the past, courts have given the studios a lot of latitude. Sometimes there is backlash against a film when its accuracy is questioned, as happened with Norman Jewison’s The Hurricane or Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. (Both obviously are more serious “fact-based” films than The Conjuring.) Given the supernatural elements of the Conjuring films, it’s fair to assume that not every fan believed everything shown on the screen was literally true. Skeptical or not, audiences flocked to the movies: The Conjuring and its spinoffs have grossed $1.2 billion for Warners — profits that have spawned a veritable horror show of litigation over who owns the rights to the Warrens’ stories. Another spinoff is in postproduction, and a second sequel is in development.
Ed Warren was a self-taught ghost hunter, while Lorraine put herself forward as a medium who could communicate with spirits. The Warrens didn’t take fees for their work, but they enjoyed immense financial success nonetheless thanks to nine books, a busy lecture schedule and consulting on films based on their exploits — including the 1979 and 2005 versions of The Amityville Horror.
The original Conjuring film, set in the early ’70s, tells the tale of the Warrens’ dramatic rescue of a family residing in a Rhode Island farmhouse supposedly inhabited by the spirit of a long-deceased witch. From the start, the Warrens’ romantic relationship is central, with Patrick Wilson playing Ed and Vera Farmiga as Lorraine. “Do you remember what you said to me on our wedding night?” Lorraine asks Ed at one point. “You said that God brought us together for a reason.”
But materials obtained by THR suggest that in real life, the Warrens’ relationship was far from divine. Among them is a sworn declaration from Penney, who maintained that Ed — with his wife’s knowledge — initiated an “amorous” relationship with her when she was 15. Penney, who has not been a party to any of the litigation over The Conjuring movies, declined to comment.
Ed Warren was in his mid-30s when he allegedly met 15-year-old Penney. Having not yet gained enough fame as a self-trained demonologist to pay the bills in the early 1960s, Ed was working as a city bus driver in Monroe, Connecticut. Penney was a student at Central High School in the nearby town of Bridgeport who rode his bus. The two began an “amorous relationship,” Penney said in a legal declaration she gave in November 2014.
According to that document, as well as newly obtained recordings of Penney’s recollection of events, by 1963 she had moved into the Warrens’ home. For the next 40 years, she said, she had a sexual relationship with Ed with Lorraine’s knowledge. At first, Penney stayed in a bedroom directly opposite the one occupied by the married couple, but eventually she moved into an apartment built for her above the home. “One night he’d sleep downstairs,” she said in a recording. “One night he’d sleep upstairs.”
Even in 1963, a teenage girl did not move in with a married man without attracting notice. That year Penney was arrested after someone reported her relationship with Ed to local police. According to her November 2014 declaration, she spent a night in the North End Prison in Bridgeport while police tried to persuade her to sign a statement admitting to the affair. After Penney refused to cooperate, she was ordered by the court to report to a delinquent youth office for the next month. According to Penney’s account, Ed picked her up from school every week and drove her to the mandated meetings.
Full story at site
Pedophilia and Abuse claims come to light behind a Billion-Dollar Franchise
A legal spat reveals the real-life demonologists in the $1.2 billion-grossing horror movies may not have been nearly as pious as they’re portrayed.
Fans of The Conjuring horror movie franchise will be familiar with the romantic tale of Ed and Lorraine Warren, real-life married demonologists who claimed their Catholic faith helped them fend off the forces of evil.
In the trailer for the first film, Warner Bros.’ New Line division sold The Conjuring as “based on the true story of the Warrens,” but according to legal filings and recordings obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, it’s possible that even the simple depiction of the Warrens as a devoted and pious couple might have stretched the truth past the breaking point.
It appears that top studio executives were made aware just weeks after the first film opened in 2013 of allegations that, in the early 1960s, Ed Warren initiated a relationship with an underage girl with Lorraine’s knowledge.
Now in her 70s, Judith Penney has said in a sworn declaration that she lived in the Warrens’ house as Ed’s lover for four decades. It is unclear whether Warner Bros. took any action in response to these allegations, but the sequel continued to portray them as a happy couple in a conventional marriage. Warners declined to comment, but an attorney for the studio has asserted in court papers that a disgruntled author and a producer suing the studio over profits from the franchise are pushing the story of the Warrens’ personal lives as part of a vendetta. Ed Warren died in 2006, and Lorraine Warren’s attorney, Gary Barkin, says the family has no knowledge of the alleged conduct and his client, now 90, is in declining health and unable to respond to the allegations.
Movie marketers long have found value in claiming that films are based on fact, but there are no explicit rules governing how far filmmakers can deviate from the truth while still including “based on a true story” in advertisements. When challenges have arisen in the past, courts have given the studios a lot of latitude. Sometimes there is backlash against a film when its accuracy is questioned, as happened with Norman Jewison’s The Hurricane or Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. (Both obviously are more serious “fact-based” films than The Conjuring.) Given the supernatural elements of the Conjuring films, it’s fair to assume that not every fan believed everything shown on the screen was literally true. Skeptical or not, audiences flocked to the movies: The Conjuring and its spinoffs have grossed $1.2 billion for Warners — profits that have spawned a veritable horror show of litigation over who owns the rights to the Warrens’ stories. Another spinoff is in postproduction, and a second sequel is in development.
Ed Warren was a self-taught ghost hunter, while Lorraine put herself forward as a medium who could communicate with spirits. The Warrens didn’t take fees for their work, but they enjoyed immense financial success nonetheless thanks to nine books, a busy lecture schedule and consulting on films based on their exploits — including the 1979 and 2005 versions of The Amityville Horror.
The original Conjuring film, set in the early ’70s, tells the tale of the Warrens’ dramatic rescue of a family residing in a Rhode Island farmhouse supposedly inhabited by the spirit of a long-deceased witch. From the start, the Warrens’ romantic relationship is central, with Patrick Wilson playing Ed and Vera Farmiga as Lorraine. “Do you remember what you said to me on our wedding night?” Lorraine asks Ed at one point. “You said that God brought us together for a reason.”
But materials obtained by THR suggest that in real life, the Warrens’ relationship was far from divine. Among them is a sworn declaration from Penney, who maintained that Ed — with his wife’s knowledge — initiated an “amorous” relationship with her when she was 15. Penney, who has not been a party to any of the litigation over The Conjuring movies, declined to comment.
Ed Warren was in his mid-30s when he allegedly met 15-year-old Penney. Having not yet gained enough fame as a self-trained demonologist to pay the bills in the early 1960s, Ed was working as a city bus driver in Monroe, Connecticut. Penney was a student at Central High School in the nearby town of Bridgeport who rode his bus. The two began an “amorous relationship,” Penney said in a legal declaration she gave in November 2014.
According to that document, as well as newly obtained recordings of Penney’s recollection of events, by 1963 she had moved into the Warrens’ home. For the next 40 years, she said, she had a sexual relationship with Ed with Lorraine’s knowledge. At first, Penney stayed in a bedroom directly opposite the one occupied by the married couple, but eventually she moved into an apartment built for her above the home. “One night he’d sleep downstairs,” she said in a recording. “One night he’d sleep upstairs.”
Even in 1963, a teenage girl did not move in with a married man without attracting notice. That year Penney was arrested after someone reported her relationship with Ed to local police. According to her November 2014 declaration, she spent a night in the North End Prison in Bridgeport while police tried to persuade her to sign a statement admitting to the affair. After Penney refused to cooperate, she was ordered by the court to report to a delinquent youth office for the next month. According to Penney’s account, Ed picked her up from school every week and drove her to the mandated meetings.
Full story at site
