I'm not clear if it's no leadership, or a case of too many leaders. It's almost like different groups are working on different titles with no central oversight or QA/QC, and have vastly different ideas about how things should look or what looks "good".
This is an Amblin production with "Steven Spielberg Presents" as part of the title. You'd think he'd take an interest in a quality presentation, especially with the film's historical place in using early CGI technology.
I'd agree Paramount doesn't earn any goodwill with regard to pre-orders, but in the case of Dragonslayer I believe it's supposed to be a new transfer supervised by the director. So a recycled 20-year-old DVD master shouldn't be an issue.
But I suppose that's not to say Paramount can't screw it...