After the lukewarm response to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows earlier this summer, a lot of fans were wondering whether or not there would be another sequel. Although many of the actors in these movies are signed on for at least three films, we haven’t heard much of anything about plans for the third movie since the release of Out of the Shadows. The sequel ended up earning over $240 million worldwide and merchandise tied to the film is said to have sold very well, but the results were still somewhat underwhelming.

If this had been the only under-performing film to come out of Paramount Studios over the summer, there probably would not be any reason to worry. Unfortunately, the performance of Ghostbusters was also pretty weak, and the recent release of Ben-Hur represents perhaps the biggest flop of the year. Paramount is in trouble, and everyone knows it. Viacom owns Paramount Studios, and their stock is beginning to plummet as a result of poor viewership on their cable networks and in the theater.

Although they will probably find a way to salvage some of their networks, a lot of analysts are suggesting that Viacom may soon sell off Paramount Studios in order to avoid any trouble. One analyst said that Paramount “isn’t contributing very much at all, so it wouldn’t be missed much.” Viacom has not indicated any plans to give up on the studio as of yet, but it’s beginning to look like their hand may be forced at some point in the near future. One thing is for sure: until the fate of Paramount is decided, we probably won’t be hearing anything about future sequels in the TMNT movie franchise.

What does all this mean for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Well, Viacom currently owns both Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures. The film franchise has been handled by Paramount largely because the studio is owned by the same conglomerate. If Viacom decides to sell Paramount, they will no longer have a major studio to produce any TMNT movies. This doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be able to produce a third film, but chances are that the production would not be entirely controlled by them.

Whatever does happen, it’s worth pointing out that Nickelodeon is a separate entity from Paramount; There are no indications that this network is struggling, so chances are that Viacom is going to continue working with Nickelodeon for quite some time. Unfortunately, without ties to a movie studio, chances are that a lot of the Nickelodeon film projects that have been announced over the past few years would be a lot more difficult to accomplish. That being said, it would appear that at least the 2k12 TMNT animated series is safe and secure.

It’s important to note that even if Viacom sells Paramount, they will probably still try to find a way to profit off of their multiple properties. In other words, we’re probably going to see another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie at some point, even if it’s not any time soon. Before you assume that the latest TMNT movie franchise is dead in the water, remember that this property is still very profitable in a lot of various ways. If Viacom still considers this a viable property, they will more than likely produce another Ninja Turtles movie at some point. Heck, they could announce plans for another movie next week for all we know.

Ultimately, we don’t know exactly what will happen with Viacom, Paramount or the TMNT property. The only thing that is certain is that Viacom is in trouble and Paramount Pictures is at the heart of the problem. It’s beginning to look like we could see a serious shake-up behind the scenes of the companies that own and produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles entertainment. This kind of event is likely to have an effect on the kind of content that we see, but there aren’t any indications that said content will be disappearing anytime soon.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Here’s hoping the future will be totally radical for our heroes in a half shell!