Brad Pitt and his Plan B production company have committed to the World War Z sequel, with a release date set for June 9, 2017. The movie will hit theaters four years after the original, which took $540 million at the worldwide box-office.

World War ZWorld War Z was a huge hit for Paramount despite endless production problems

Director Juan Antonio Bayona - the Spanish filmmaker best known for The Orphanage and The Impossible - will helm the project, while screenwriter Steven Knight will write the sequel. Knight scored a recent directorial hit with the one-man thriller Locke, starring Tom Hardy. His previous writing credits include Dirty Pretty Things, David Cronenberg's stunning Eastern Promises and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.

More: Brad Pitt to play Richard Leakey in Angelina Jolie's Africa

Based on the novel of the same name by Max Brooks, World War Z starred Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who must travel the world to find a way to stop a zombie pandemic. 

Shot in Malta, Glasgow and Budapest, the movie became the highest-grossing zombie film of all time though many critics were astounded by its quality given its hectic production. The movie was hit by budget issues and delays, while Damon Lindelof was hired to rewrite the film's third act before pulling out due to time constraints. Paramount then hired Lindelof's Lost partner Drew Goddard to do further rewrites.

"It's actually quite remarkable this movie turned out even remotely good, considering the horrendous production reports and the reshooting of the entire last act," said critic Chris Stuckmann.

More: Brad Pitt reveals: "I was given a gun in Kindergarten"