Brad Pitt fights 'World War Z' for Christmas 2012

If you've always wanted a zombie apocalypse for Christmas, 2012 will be your year.

Paramount has set a Dec. 21, 2012 release date for "World War Z," Deadline reports. The film, based on Max Brooks' novel (subtitled "An Oral History of the Zombie War"), stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations worker who travels around the globe collecting stories of those who survived a worldwide zombie pandemic.

The film, which Pitt is also producing, co-stars Mireille Enos ("The Killing") and James Badge Dale ("Rubicon"); Marc Forster ("Quantum of Solace," "Stranger Than Fiction") is directing it.

"World War Z" will face quite a bit of competition on the pre-Christmas weekend next year, Deadline notes. The first "Hobbit" movie is set to open the week before that, while "The Lone Ranger" (starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer), literary adaptation "Life of Pi" and the submarine thriller "Hunter Killer" are all set to debut on Dec. 21.