The month of March has arrived, meaning that Austinites will soon be free of the oppressive winter doldrums that Central Texans have to suffer through. As temperate weather prevails, we will all start heading to the park and bike trails once again.

Unless, of course, you have severe seasonal allergies, in which case you’ll rue all of this floral fecundity and stick with indoor activities. Our local Alamo Drafthouses seem like good places to avoid the oncoming pollen onslaught, and not only are there plenty of new events to check out as usual, we will all soon witness the blossoming of the newest Drafthouse theater meant for our collective entertainment pleasures.

Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane Opening Events

Via the official site’s blog, Drafthouse fanatics have been continually receiving glimpses of the slow birth of the newest Drafthouse theater located near Slaughter Lane and MoPac. It seems as if we’ve had to wait forever for this movie palace to be built and completed, but like the upcoming Avengers movie all of that waiting will soon pay off in a big way.

Doors will open to the public on March 8 with a limited selection of screenings to help the new staff get in the groove of things before the big extravaganza kicks off on March 22 with a week of kickass events.

Slaughter Lane will be offering up quite a smorgasbord of both classic and brand new events to help patrons settle into the sleek, eight-screen venue. If you want to stuff yourself, the Spaghetti Western Dinner accompanying The Good, the Bad and the Ugly screening on opening night should do the trick. This feast has hearkens back to the early days of the Drafthouse, and serves as a perfect way to christen the new locale.

You can even brave an epic film screening and feast with the return of the Lord of the Rings Hobbit Trilogy Feast, a 12-hour marathon of the extended-cut trilogy and a seven-course feast served at proper Hobbit meal times (try not to pass out before you even get to elevensies). The first month’s schedule is pretty stacked for Slaughter Lane, so it might be best to browse through the calendar and find the best film to help become better acquainted with the new theater.

Master Pancake: Lifeguard

Master Pancake Theater is known for taking aim at big Hollywood blockbusters and mocking away at them with guns a-blazin’. They will, of course, continue that trend with shows devoted to the Sex and the City movie, but for one night only they will dig a little deeper into the American film canon for some fresh meat.

That target will be the 1976 film Lifeguard, a rather groovy film set on a SoCal beach where a young, but still magnificently mustachioed Sam Elliott much choose between the freedom of his lifesaving job or settling down as a Porsche salesman. If that’s not enough to convince you, the Pancake crew promises a very special guest to the screening who won’t be named until the day of the screening.

Broadway Brunch: My Fair Lady

A brand new event series launching this month, Broadway Brunch will work from a very simple formula ­— brunch combined with musicals equals a dandy time had by all.

So why not launch the series with perhaps the most loverly musical of them all? While you’re watching Prof. Henry Higgins grow accustomed to the face of Eliza Doolittle, you can spend your time munching on some delightful brunch foods, although I can’t guarantee if there will be lots of chocolate for you to eat.

Battle Royale

I don’t want to join the large online clique of critics who are painting the soon to be released movie adaptation of The Hunger Games as a blatant rip off of this controversial Japanese cult hit. At the same time, fans of the books should take a chance to see this film just for the sake of comparing and contrasting how the two films approach the shared genre of dystopian gladiatorial games.

Released in 2000, the film (also based on a popular novel) received a flurry of public condemnations for its bloody portrayal of students forced to kill each other until only one remains. Most Americans have only seen it through bootleg channels, but now you can see it during a rare domestic distribution this month at the Drafthouse (including an appropriate run at Slaughter Lane).

Along with these unique events, the Drafthouse will open some fun new releases to be enjoyed by all. The most exciting of these will be the theatrical release of The FP, a dystopian film where turf wars are raged in the deadly world of competitive dance-fight video game “Beat-Beat Revolution”. The FP has been gaining a following amongst genre film fans and promises to be a blast when it gets its Drafthouse-wide release.

And if you love films that honor the culinary arts, Jiro Dreams of Sushishould be a must see, as it follows the life of the world’s greatest sushi chef.

For the full list of Drafthouse events, check out their online calendar or March guide and find your own perfect way to welcome spring back to Austin.