Five years is the cutoff? So you have experience as a professional film restorer and seasoned, profit-driven studio executive then?
No, five years is way past the cutoff. Anyone who gave them five years was more than generous or, more likely, just plain delusional. Robert Harris is quoted as saying the entire restoration of films like My Fair Lady took less than one year. He called that “a lot of time”. And sure, that is a lot of time and hard work, but it’s less than a year.
I can’t help but read your post in Larry David’s voice. We know they have a 4k source somewhere, it’s just a matter of when Disney feels like the timing is right and when they want to spend the money to send out and promote the release, not to mention the legal hoops they have to jump through.