For a guy who’s been dead more than 2,000 years, Homer is suddenly very, very hot.

The ancient Greek poet is credited as the author of “The Odyssey,” a movie version of which is soon to be playing on just about every movie screen in the country and stars just about every big-name actor in Hollywood. Screenings begin Thursday and if you don’t see it over the weekend, you’re going to be behind.

How did a centuries-old myth that already has been the inspiration for dozens of movies, including Joel and Ethan Coen’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” become such a phenomenon that it instantly sold out some IMAX screenings a year ago?

By putting together a package that has something for just about everyone:

The Nolan effect

Plenty has been written about the starry cast of the three-hour epic of Odysseus’ journey home after fighting the Trojan War. But audiences won’t see the movie’s biggest star on screen: director Christopher Nolan. He’s become the kind of brand name Steven Spielberg used to be, someone whose new films are eagerly anticipated, no matter what they’re about. Audiences know everything he does is big, smart and packed with action. Nolan won the directing Oscar for his last blockbuster, “Oppenheimer,” and he’s sure to be in the mix again for a movie that had preview audiences gasping at the special effects and storytelling verve.

Gen Z to the rescue

Hollywood prognosticators say the global box office will hit $10 billion in 2026, a mark that hasn’t been reached since before the pandemic. That has to do with smart programming, with “Michael” and “Toy Story 5″ both becoming billion-dollar titles and “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Backrooms” and “Project Hail Mary” also pulling in big bucks. When a movie starring a septuagenarian like “Prada” and the no-budget “Backrooms” — which Kane Parsons created when he was in high school — are both huge hits, that suggests Hollywood is doing a good job of targeting all moviegoers. But one audience has been most consistent, with a recent Fandango survey saying 87% of Gen Z-ers have attended a movie in person in the last year.

Star system

At least four Oscar-winning actors appear in “The Odyssey”: Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o and Matt Damon (who plays Odysseus and won his Oscar for the “Good Will Hunting” screenplay, not for acting). But the non-Oscar winners are even bigger stars: Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson. And the name that’s already being tipped to win for “The Odyssey” is someone audiences are more likely to recognize than know the name of: “Minority Report” star Samantha Morton, who plays Odysseus’ frenemy Circe.

Not just a movie but an event

It seemed a little nuts when tickets to IMAX screenings went on sale last year, while the movie was still being made. But it helped the “event” nature of “Odyssey” take on a life of its own. So did the fact that “Odyssey” is the first film ever shot entirely on IMAX cameras (movies like last year’s “Sinners” were only partly shot in IMAX’s larger, more detailed format). That means it’s the kind of epic that demands to be seen on big screens. As the release draws near, more and more people are curious to see “Odyssey” the way that Nolan intended, on IMAX screens and in 70 millimeter.

It’s Greek to all of us

A two-millennia-old myth may seem like unlikely multiplex material, but we’ve never not been entertained by these ancient tales. New adaptations of old stories are reliable smashes, with books like Margaret Atwood’s “Penelopiad” (Hathaway plays Penelope in “Odyssey”) and Madeline Miller’s “Circe” both big bestsellers. So was “Cold Mountain,” a contemporary take on “The Odyssey,” the movie version of which won Renee Zellweger her first Oscar. The “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” books and movies, about the kids of gods and goddesses, may have helped create young audiences for this material. The “Hades” video games have sold millions of copies and Hades himself is one one of the stars of the musical “Hadestown,” which is still on tour.

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