The LoC request from Disney (which was first mentioned back in December IIRC) and Verta meeting with the suits are two huge signs that something is happening behind the scenes.
Yes, quite old news. It’s a sad state of affairs when a production studio needs to rely on the government to obtain the original cut of it’s own film. Could’ve been a last-ditch effort to try to salvage something in-house before Verta came along and offered the meetings early this year.
Maybe, it’s also possible though that they just want to get a handle on all of their materials. Disney has a pretty strict system for keeping track of their films.