Rooney Mara will star opposite Daniel Craig as the crime fighting Lisbeth Salander in Sony’s English language remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The little-known Mara previously appeared in the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street and will be seen later this year in Sony’s The Social Network from David Fincher, who is directing the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. The books have spawned a global publishing sensation as well as three hit Scandinavian films.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo unites an activist journalist with a cyberpunk computer hacker as they race to solve a dark family mystery.

Steve Zaillian adapted the screenplay and Scott Rudin is producing alongside Cean Chaffin, Ole Sondberg and Soeren Stærmose. Mikael Wallen and Anni Fernandez serve as executive producers.

Filming is set to begin in Sweden next month in time for worldwide release on December 21, 2011. The two other instalments in the series are The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest.

The original films have grossed more than $150m internationally and are released in North America through Music Box. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (pictured) grossed just under $10m in North America and The Girl Who Played With Fire is currently on release and stands at $4.8m.