As we had reported numerous times before, the Walt Disney Company is finally planning to begin releasing its animated feature films on DVD. In an article by the Wall Street Journal today, the magazine suggests it could be mostly a financially driven decision to generate more profit from its most valuable movie assets. Looking at Disney’s recent stock performance, higher profits would definitely be something investors would like to see.

The Wall Street Journal correctly mentions 9 titles that are scheduled for release later this year, identifies the following titles. “Mulan”, “Pinocchio”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Peter Pan”, “The Lady And The Tramp” and “The Jungle Book”. The missing three titles are still obscure, but will be unveiled by Disney’s official announcement later today or tomorrow.

The paper suspects Disney has held back on putting its animated movies on the format because it is fairly new and many of the early users have been adults, which is identical to what Disney’s representatives told us on various occasions. The Wall Street Journal also reports that Disney is obviously toying with the idea of making its animated titles available on VHS all the time instead of using moratoriums to increase the assets“ values. For now, some of these DVD titles will be available for a limited time only before going back on moratorium.

As we had reported back in February already, Disney’s plans are now intensifying and it seems as if we can expect official details from Buena Vista Home Video fairly soon. Now this should make a few people happy!