Vin Diesel Should Front A Live-Action Street Sharks Movie

If a live-action Street Sharks movie ever happens, here’s why Vin Diesel should be the one to front it. Vin Diesel’s first breakthrough came when he was cast in a supporting role in Saving Private Ryan after Steven Spielberg saw his short Multi-Facial. He had a quick rise to leading man from there after being cast as convict Riddick in 2000 creature feature Pitch Black, and shortly thereafter, he played Dom in the first entry of The Fast And The Furious movie franchise.

While he’s well known for fronting multiple franchises now, Diesel once had an aversion to follow-ups. He famously bailed on 2 Fast 2 Furious and despite the xXx franchise being created for him, he backed out of the first sequel. Diesel fully embraces follow-ups now, with most of his movie output in recent years being part of franchises. He’s even tried to launch other properties for himself like The Last Witch Hunter that didn’t fully connect with audiences.

Another distinctive feature of Vin Diesel is his gravelly voice, which has been used to fantastic effect voicing characters like the titular Iron Giant’s or Groot in the MCU. Of course, like many young actors, Diesel had to take various gigs to pay the bills before making it in movies, and one of those was hyping Street Shark toys at the 1994 Toy Fair, as seen in this adorkable Street Sharks’ video. For the uninitiated, Street Sharks is an animated series from the ’90s that ran for three seasons and followed the adventures of four siblings who are transformed into anthropomorphic half-man, half-shark hybrids by an evil scientist. If a live-action Street Sharks ever happened, then Vin Diesel might just be the perfect star for it.

Street Sharks was essentially a riff on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it is fondly remembered by those who grew up with the show. Sadly, there appear to be no plans for revivals or movie adaptations, but it’s a property with some potential. The Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies or Sonic The Hedgehog showed live-action takes on these nostalgic properties can be huge hits, while The Suicide Squad’s King Shark also showed a movie can have a very credible talking shark character interacting with human actors.

The show was an over-the-top, goofy premise by design, and in that aforementioned video, Diesel is clearly a big Street Sharks fan. A live-action Street Sharks movie could update the “gene-slammer” tech for modern viewers, and Diesel has his choice of four roles to choose from; Great White shark Ripster, Whale Shark Big Slammu, Tiger Shark Streex or Hammerhead Jab. Throughout his career, Diesel has drifted towards more fantasy or action-orientated material with a tongue-in-cheek tone anyway, and Street Sharks could definitely fit that bit.

It would give him a ready-made franchise to sink his teeth into, with the advantage of doing most of the work from a recording booth. While a live-action Street Sharksmovie isn’t being developed currently, it’s hard to imagine a better actor to front it than Vin Diesel, who has a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em movie in development too.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3486 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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