I get that concept. It seems natural for them. But an awards release only needs something like a dozen screen in 2 states (NY and LA usually).
Dead Man I thought got a wide release. But not realy. I just got lucky with my local theater. It's only a money question. If they think they can make enough with theater releases, they'd do them. If Dead Man made $100M off 600 screens that might be enough to cause them to reconcider.