The nine-year-old Oscar-nominated actor has been chosen to replace Will Smith's daughter Willow, aged 12, who is now considered too old to play the 11-year-old orphan

Quvenzhané Wallis, who made history at this year's Oscars as the youngest ever nominee for best actress, is to star as Annie in a screen remake of the hit Broadway musical and Academy Award-nominated 1982 film.

Wallis, now nine but six when she filmed her Oscar-nominated debut role in Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, replaces Willow Smith (daughter of Will) in the high-profile role. The remake was originally conceived as a vehicle for Willow, with her father on board as producer and Jay-Z – who memorably sampled It's the Hard Knock Life from the 1982 version of Annie for one of his best known hits – working on the music.

Will Smith and Jay-Z remain on board as producers, but Deadline reports that Willow, 12, was thought to have grown too old to play the 11-year-old Annie during the film's lengthy gestation process. Easy A's Will Gluck has signed on to direct.

"With the recent Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim, Quvenzhané Wallis is a true star and we believe her portrayal as Annie will make her a true worldwide star," said Hannah Minghella of Columbia Pictures. "She is an extraordinary young talent with an amazing range, not only as an actress but as a singer and dancer, and we can't wait for audiences to further discover her."

The new version of Annie is due in cinemas for late 2014. The original 1982 film, which drew a mixed response from critics but still landed Oscar nominations for best art direction and best original score, was based on the long-running Broadway play about a young girl who escapes from the clutches of an evil orphanage owner to go in search of her missing parents. The stage show opened in 1977 at the Alvin in New York and ran for what was then a record-breaking six years at the theatre.