The way I see it, Disney should at least give a clear statement whether they plan to release OOT or not. At least Lucas was clear on this matter.
Except he wasn’t. He released it two years later, albeit in shitty quality.
Yes but he changed his mind again by the time the BDs were being done. There was an article that was published after the BDs came out about a fan at I believe a Q&A thing who politely asked Lucas why the original cuts hadn’t been included in the BD set. Keep in mind they had preceded the question by complimenting Mr. Lucas’ work and saying they were fans. According to the article Lucas rudely responded with ‘Grow up. They’re my movies’.
That quote’s validity was questionable IIRC. George did also say right around the same time “the original versions are too expensive to restore right now,” whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.