ComingSoon.net has confirmed that Daniel Craig will star in David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on Stieg Larsson's posthumously published crime thriller trilogy, "The Millennium Series." The deal includes two sequels based on The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.

Adapted by Steve Zaillian, "Dragon Tattoo" describes the mystery surrounding the long-unsolved disappearance of an heiress. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig), recently dinged by a libel case, and young female hacker Lisbeth Salander try to resolve it, stirring up bundles of personal and industrial corruption along the way. The role of Salander has not been cast yet.

Scott Rudin is producing "Dragon Tatoo," which Columbia Pictures will release on December 21, 2011.

Director Niels Arden Oplev's Swedish adaptation of the book, starring Noomi Rapace, has earned an impressive $101.7 million worldwide. The follow-up, The Girl Who Played with Fire, has taken in $54 million so far. The third installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, has not been released here yet.

Craig is currently filming Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens.