Disney lisenced a bunch of titles from their catalog (including Miramax and ABC releases) to Anchor Bay a couple of years ago. These were (i guess they figured) "B" pictures. Anchor Bay was scheduled to release a bunch of Disney catalog titles that have since disappeared from their website and ended up back at Disney (including The Journey of Natty Gann). I guess with the big demand for DVD titles, Disney realized they would make more if they released them themselves, instead of lisencing them out. Which may be unfortunate, since Anchor Bay has a pretty good track record releasing movies in the Original Aspect Ratio (widescreen, where available), and Disney's new stance on full-frame releases on selected "kid-friendly" or "family" tiltes just plain sucks! I doubt, if given the chance, Disney would have released WATCHER IN THE WOODS with all of the extras Anchor Bay has (2 or 3 alternate endings). Anchor Bay will continue releasing titles from the Buena Vista catalog (mostly ABC Pictures and acquisition -- the Selznick International titles purchased by ABC back in the '70s, and some Miramax titles).
On the topic of no mention of Disney on Anchor Bay releases, I always found it odd that on THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE dvd, all references to Walt Disney and Walt Disney Productions are simply listed as the STUDIO. But if you look at the bottom left-corner of the dvd case, just below the DVD logo, you will see a very small © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Go figure?
