Zombies for Christmas: World War Z gets a release date

If you want to know exactly when the global zompocalypse will occur, here you go: December 21, 2012.

That’s when the fictional outbreak known as WORLD WAR Z will hit theaters.

Based on Max Brooks’ chilling book, the movie is directed Marc Forster (QUANTUM OF SOLACE) and stars Brad Pitt and the AMC trio of Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Mirelle Enos (“The Killing”) and James Badge Dale (“Rubicon”, RIP), plus countless shambling undead.

The story is set in the aftermath of a war fought between humanity and a legion of flesh-eating zombies. The harrowing book was told anthology-style through a series of “interviews” with survivors, but the movie will feature Pitt’s character as the conduit for audiences to experience the horrifying accounts.

UPDATE From Paramount’s press release: “Produced by Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Colin Wilson, the screenplay is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) from Max Brooks’ best-selling novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Starring Pitt (Moneyball), Mireille Enos (AMC’s “The Killing”), Daniella Kertesz in her feature film debut, James Badge Dale (The Departed) and Matthew Fox (“Lost”), the film’s Executive Producers are Forster, Brad Simpson, David Ellison, Paul Schwake, Dana Goldberg, Graham King and Tim Headington.

The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Enos plays Gerry’s wife Karen Lane; Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen.”

Given the late-year release date, Paramount is perhaps hoping the material is moving and memorable enough to stick in the minds of Oscar and other award voters, or accessible enough to take full advantage of the holiday vacationing masses. Either is plausible considering the reported $125 million budget (although opening a week after part 1 of THE HOBBIT and just before Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED could prove challenging).