Response to Gregor Matheson, 4 November 2012 12:05PM
Disney was making a variety of films under its own label in the 1970s and 1980s, but suffered from the brand-name problem whereby everything with "Disney" on it then ended up associated with "mouse ears" or "for kids". Hence the "Touchstone pictures" brand, which was basically Disney films under a non-Disney label. From Wikipedia:
By the way, apropos of nothing, Disney also made a 3-D film called "Captain EO" starring the late Michael Jackson, basically a pastiche of Star Wars, which was only viewable at Disneylands. It now seems to be available on YouTube.