????《美國隊長2：寒冬戰(zhàn)士》（Captain America: The Winter Soldier）3月份在北京舉行的首映式具備了熱門大片的所有特征。年輕女孩們在紅地毯邊上興奮地尖叫。一幅100英尺寬的大屏幕播放著這部影片配有中文字幕的劇情預(yù)告片。影片主演、飾演“美國隊長”的克里斯?埃文斯和飾演“黑寡婦”的斯嘉麗?約翰遜在回答記者有關(guān)他們參觀故宮及計劃當(dāng)晚與成龍共進(jìn)晚餐的提問時極力掩飾時差反應(yīng)。

????迪士尼（Disney）是這部超級英雄巨片發(fā)行背后的美國公司，但籌辦北京首映儀式的是中國視頻網(wǎng)站優(yōu)酷土豆網(wǎng)（Youku Tudou）。曾經(jīng)被稱為中國版Youtube的優(yōu)酷網(wǎng)花了幾周的時間為這部《美國隊長》續(xù)集電影宣傳造勢：進(jìn)行一系列幕后采訪及相關(guān)宣傳活動。這個網(wǎng)站將在今年晚些時候播放這部影片。

????就在幾年前，好萊塢影視公司與中國視頻網(wǎng)站之間建立合作伙伴關(guān)系還是不可想象的事情。許多中國網(wǎng)站，尤其是優(yōu)酷，擁有許多美國電視節(jié)目和電影的盜版，好萊塢定期派出大批律師前往中國申訴。

????后來發(fā)生了什么事情呢？那就是只可能發(fā)生在中國的飛速轉(zhuǎn)變。優(yōu)酷、搜狐（Sohu）、騰訊視頻（ v.qq）以及許多其他視頻網(wǎng)站現(xiàn)在都已經(jīng)成為好萊塢的誠實(shí)合作伙伴。他們每年通過內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議向好萊塢各大影視公司支付數(shù)千萬美元，幫助CBS（哥倫比亞廣播公司）的《破產(chǎn)姐妹》（2 Broke Girls）和奈飛公司（Netflix）的《紙牌屋》（House of Cards）等不一定有把握成功的電視節(jié)目建立粉絲群。在線播放美國頂級電影雖然仍處于早期階段，但顯然是下一個重大的機(jī)遇。

????哥倫比亞電影公司總裁道格?貝爾格萊德說：“中國市場的增長勢頭相當(dāng)迅猛。”過去三年以來，這家公司的母公司索尼影視娛樂公司（t Sony Pictures Entertainment）已經(jīng)與差不多10家中國視頻網(wǎng)站簽署了在線播放授權(quán)協(xié)議。貝爾格萊德說：“我們正在相當(dāng)積極地對我們的電影庫加以授權(quán)。”

????初期的挑戰(zhàn)

????中國視頻網(wǎng)站與好萊塢關(guān)系已經(jīng)得到改善，要想更進(jìn)一步，中國視頻網(wǎng)站首先必須克服隱私問題。他們通過互相爭斗做到了這點(diǎn)。最初作為搜索引擎的搜狐在2009年聯(lián)合其他視頻網(wǎng)站起訴優(yōu)酷網(wǎng)，以保護(hù)自己購買的中國授權(quán)視頻內(nèi)容。其中涉及到巨大的經(jīng)濟(jì)利益——今年，中國網(wǎng)絡(luò)視頻廣告銷售收入預(yù)計將會達(dá)到30億美元。

????搜狐最終在那樁訴訟案中獲勝，而中國最大的視頻網(wǎng)站優(yōu)酷進(jìn)而開始注重建立正版內(nèi)容庫。由于對盜版搶走潛在觀眾的擔(dān)憂情緒趨于消失，所有視頻網(wǎng)站在2010年至2012年期間都對新節(jié)目投入了巨資。去年，優(yōu)酷購買了ABC（美國廣播公司）的《摩登家庭》（Modern Family）和BBC（英國廣播公司）的《神探夏洛克》（Sherlock）等30個西方國家電視節(jié)目的播放權(quán)。騰訊視頻最近添加了電影《饑餓游戲2：星火燎原》（Hunger Games: Catching Fire）和《大夢想家》（Saving Mr. Banks），同時在今年3月份表示，為了提高市場份額，將在視頻內(nèi)容方面增加一倍的支出。搜狐在購得美國電視綜藝節(jié)目《周六夜現(xiàn)場》（Saturday Night Live）、電視連續(xù)劇《絕命毒師》（Breaking Bad）和《紙牌屋》的播放權(quán)之后，消息在美國和中國都引發(fā)了媒體關(guān)注。

????但障礙依然存在，那就是中國的審查機(jī)構(gòu)。各大視頻網(wǎng)站競相播放西方國家影視節(jié)目的這股熱潮引起了中國監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)的注意，中國監(jiān)管部門直到最近為止一直給予各大網(wǎng)站播放幾乎任何視頻內(nèi)容的自由空間。今年4月下旬，中國國有媒體報道說，四部美國連續(xù)劇將在流媒體網(wǎng)站上遭到禁播，其中包括《生活大爆炸》（The Big Bang Theory）、《律師本色》（The Practice）、《海軍罪案調(diào)查處》（NCIS）以及《傲骨賢妻》（The Good Wife）。據(jù)一位業(yè)內(nèi)人士表示，此舉很可能是中國政府在控制網(wǎng)絡(luò)視頻的戰(zhàn)爭中發(fā)起的第一輪大規(guī)模攻勢。自從2009年以來，中國政府一直試圖控制網(wǎng)絡(luò)視頻。

????但審查制度不可能大獲成功，部分原因在于，西方視頻內(nèi)容在中國觀眾當(dāng)中廣受歡迎。北京索福瑞媒介研究有限公司（CSM Media Research）的梅勒妮?黃說，中國年輕觀眾對西方電影和節(jié)目的著迷是出了名的，而這有充分的理由：西方國家的電影和電視節(jié)目不僅制作質(zhì)量高于中國本土影視內(nèi)容，而且可以成為一種身份的象征。告訴你的中國朋友你在看《紙牌屋》不僅意味著你精通英語，而且還意味著你對外面的世界感興趣。

????Last month's Beijing premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier had all the hallmarks of a blockbuster. Young girls screamed along the red carpet. A 100-foot-wide screen broadcast the film's dramatic trailer, complete with Chinese subtitles. The stars of the sequel, Chris Evans as Captain America and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, tried to hide signs of jetlag as they answered press questions about visiting the Forbidden City and their dinner plans with Jackie Chan later that night.

????Disney (DIS) is the U.S. company that was behind the release of the superhero flick -- but it was the Chinese video site Youku Tudou that staged the Beijing premiere. Youku, once known as the YouTube of China, spent weeks building hype for the Captain America sequel (the Chinese translation is "American team leader") with a blitz of behind-the-scenes interviews and promotional ties-in. Its site will stream the film later this year.

????Just a few years ago, a partnership between a Hollywood studio and Chinese video site would have been unimaginable. Many of the Chinese sites, Youku in particular, hosted so many pirated versions of U.S. television shows and films that Hollywood regularly sent armies of lawyers to China to complain.

????What has happened since is a transformation so rapid that it could only happen in China. Youku, Sohu, Tencent's v.qq, and many other video sites are now bonafide partners with Hollywood. They send tens of millions of dollars a year to studios through content licensing deals, helping to build fan bases in China for television shows as unlikely as CBS's 2 Broke Girls and Netflix's House of Cards. Streaming top U.S. movies, still in the early stages, is the next major opportunity.

????"Growth in China is pretty explosive," says Doug Belgrad, head of Columbia Pictures, whose parent Sony Pictures Entertainment (SNE) has signed streaming deals with almost 10 Chinese video sites over the past three years. "We're being fairly aggressive in licensing our library," Belgrad says.

????Early challenges

????To foster improved relationships with Hollywood, the Chinese sites first had to overcome privacy. They did so by fighting each other. Sohu, which started as a search engine, was part of a group that sued Youku in 2009 to protect the licensed Chinese content it was buying. The money at stake is massive -- this year, ads that run with online video in China are expected to pull in $3 billion in sales.

????Sohu ultimately prevailed in that case, and Youku, the country's biggest video site, went on to focus on building a library of legal content. All of the sites spent heavily on new shows between 2010 and 2012 as the fear of losing potential viewers to piracy evaporated. In the last year, Youku has bought rights for 30 Western shows like ABC's Modern Family and BBC's Sherlock. Tencent's v.qq recently added the films Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Saving Mr. Banks and in March said it would double spending on video content to boost market share. Sohu made headlines in the U.S. and China after acquiring rights to the television series Saturday Night Live, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards.

????But hurdles remain, namely in the form of Chinese censors. The rush for Western shows has attracted attention from China's regulators, who until recently gave the sites leeway to broadcast almost anything. In late April, the Chinese state-owned press reported that four U.S. shows would be blocked from the streaming sites, including The Big Bang Theory, The Practice, NCIS, andThe Good Wife. The move was probably the government's first major salvo in the war to control online video, which it has been attempting to do since 2009, according to one industry insider.

????But censorship is unlikely to go very far, in part because Western content is hugely popular among Chinese viewers. Younger viewers are known to obsess over the movies and shows, and for good reason: Not only is the production quality better than what's offered in Chinese, but Western movies and TV can become a status symbol, says Melanie Huang of CSM Media Research in Beijing. Telling your Chinese friends you watch House of Cards not only means you are proficient in English, but also that you have interest in the outside world.