tonight on "nightline," charged. as the former head of the imf is granted $1 million bail, his wife and daughter in court to support him, we look at the prosecution's case, from room records to dna samples to the suspect's behavior in the hours that led to this. art of the blockbuster. there would be no him, no him and no them without super producer jerry bruckheimer. tonight, he item tells the sto how the "pirates on the caribbean" franchise almost sank and how it was saved. and it's a battle for the ages. on film, in cartoons and in real life. man versus beast. some of them pretty cute, but all of them bent on destruction

of your garden. now, is a truce finally at hand? >> reporte >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," may 19th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. what evidence does the prosecution have on dominique strauss-kahn? that's the question at the center of the case in which the former imf chief is charged with multiple first degree felonies including committing a criminal sex act and attempted rape. today, man hat than grand jury decided there's enough evidence in this case, for the charges to go forward. so, what is the nature of that evidence? we take a look. there he was again today, neat, clean-shaved and call. dominique strauss-kahn looking every inch the international power player he's been for years. >> and he has only one interest at this time, and that is to

clear his name. >> dominique strauss-kahn. >> reporter: it was a stark contrast to his appearance in court on monday when she was drawn and haggered by two nights in police custody. but today, in courtroom 1213 in manhattan, it wasn't about the image. it was about the alleged crimes. >> the charges that have been voted by the grapd jury are serious. two b-violent felonies a c-violent felonfelony. >> reporter: the man hat than district attorney says prosecutors believe they can prove that strauss-kahn is a sexual criminal. >> under american law, these are extreme little serious charges. based on the grand jury's determination that the evidence supports the commission of nonconsensual forced sexual acts. >> reporter: but defense lawyers and strauss-kahn himself in a letter resigning his position as head of the imf, have insisted on his innocence.

"i deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me," he wrote. >> we expect that mr. strauss-kahn will be vind yated. >> reporter: like so many cases involved alleged sex crimes, this one boys down to a he said-she said case. how important it is that she went right to her manager? >> i think that's critical. >> reporter: dan horowi tz is a veteran defense attorney. >> she didn't hesitate. and because she spoke so quickly to her co-workers, that evidence is admissible. >> reporter: investigators are working hard to back up this story of the alleged victim, a 32-year-old african immigrant hotel housekeeper and the mother of a teenager. they've cut out and removed an 11 by 4 foot section of the floor in the suite, looking for dna evidence where she says she spat after being forced to perform oral sex. they've retrieved hotel records,

showing she swiped her electronic card key to get into the suite but left it open just as hotel policy requires. but the door was closed, by whom? and what really happened inside? >> the police, i can guarantee you, are knocking on the doors of every single one of the guests that had rooms on that floor to find out, what did you hear? did you hear a door slamming, did you hear anybody screaming? who saw the woman get in the elevator? anything they can find that will suggest that what this woman said to the police was, in fact, what happened. >> reporter: and then there are the actions and the appearance of dominique strauss-kahn himself. all that's evidence, too. hotel records show that at 12:2 p.m. on saturday, he checked out of the hotel. that's just 25 minutes after records show the housekeeper swiped her card, according to police. and then he had lunch with his daughter and headed to the airport for a previously booked flight. the defense today offered his

itinerary and ticket as proof that he wasn't trying to flee anywhere. >> these two pieces of evidence rebut the notion that mr. strauss-kahn was in a panicked mode, attempting to make his way onto an international flight to avoid detention in new york. >> reporter: police paint a different picture. they say strauss-kahn left the hotel in a hurry and that he was bleeding. his hands, apparently, were wounded. he was wearing bandages, they found bandage wrappers in the room. >> if she says, sure, i was trying to scratch him, i was doing everything i could to get away where did you scratch him? i scratched him on his hands. just happened to bl whe ed ted wounds are. >> reporter: and then police say that when he was arrested at jfk and on the long ride back to manhattan, strauss-kahn never

asked why he was being taken into custody. >> they said, you're under arrest, he stood up and put his hands out, that d.a. would argue is consciousness of guilt. >> reporter: this case has already triggered a worldwide media frenzy. strauss-kahn's wife and daughter left the courthouse today through the madness. >> i have decided that i will grant a bail. >> reporter: and he himself will get to leave jail tomorrow and join them. the judge granted a $1 million bail, but the former world financial titan will have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and remain confined to a manhattan apartment. he faces up to 25 years in prison. and this is a story we will continue to follow. well, up next, it's one of the top grossing movie franchises of all time. but "pirates of the caribbean" almost sank after just one picture. and we'll tell you why.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> so, imagine being in charge of a creative project with a $225 million budget behind it and realizing just as it was nearly nearing completion that what you'd made was a total stinker. well that's what jerry bruckheimer says what happened with "pirates of the caribbean 2." so, how did they fix it? well, chris connelly finds out on the eve of "pirates of the caribbean 4" which is in theaters tomorrow in the "nightline" interview. >> reporter: it is one of the 21st centuries film franchises. >> there is even the slightest

chance that they won't see it. >> why is the rum gone? >> reporter: first three movies earned $2.75 billion. tomorrow, "pirates of the caribbean" returns for a fourth adventure. >> not the destination so much as the journey. >> reporter: with a new villain, a new leading lady in penelope cruz and that same captain not so courageous. [ screaming ] >> reporter: in search of the fountain of youth. but a few weeks before the opening of "pirates of the caribbean: on stranger tides" finds producer jerry bruckheimer with editing room details still to attend to. >> mutiny is -- >> reporter: today, he's checking out visual effects shots with marty cloner. >> we're taking the best ones and putting it together to show the visual effects part of the academy to hopefully be considered for an academy award. >> reporter: you haven't put the movie out yet. >> well, i know. he's the one that did it all.

we want to catch him so we don't have to pay him again. >> reporter: keeping it creative and commercial, with both eyes on the bottom line. that's what's made bruckheimer a powerhouse producer for some 30 years. what do you do in a movie, jerry? >> coaching in our game is usually the director. there's a general manager of the team, which is what i am. i'm the one that has to oversee it all. >> reporter: he's done that on hits like "con air." "blackhawk down." "national treasure." >> you need heat. >> reporter: and plenty more. you must have made hundreds of thousands of decisions. how high on that last is the decision to cast johnny depp as jack spar roe? >> i think that is one of our, you know, our great coupes. >> that's an entrance. >> reporter: when you take a movie that's about a theme park ride and say, who is going to want to see that? for me, the key linchpin to iteming the audience this is special, if johnny wants to do

this. >> reporter: but jaws hit the poop deck when they got a first look at his characterization, based on his kid's favorite cartoon. you paid him a lot of money and they are panicking when they see a skunk as the captain. >> perhaps it's not sefbing your best interest. >> reporter: when we cut a scene together and showed them how it was going to work, they got on board. >> reporter: is it the one big decision that makes the difference or the thousands of little decisions that you make in the course of a film that determine its success or failure? >> i think it's 1,000 decisions, it really. that one big decision was him but so many other mistakes you can make along the way. and i've been there. >> oh, please. >> reporter: once there was here. bruk himmer's office, where the creative team gathered after a catastrophic preview for the second film in the series. >> it was a disaster. kids didn't like it.

we were ready to slit our wrists. i'm telling you, we thought our careers were over. >> reporter: the answer was to uncomplicate the film's ending. a solution common to bruckheimer, who reads every film and tv script his company produces. what has to be fixed? >> clarity. do you understand what the character is doing, why they're doing it. if an audience doesn't understand a character's motivation or a plot point you've lost them because they get bored. >> reporter: last year saw bruk himmer hitting a dry spell with underwhelm i underwhelming movies. >> we missed on that. >> reporter: for him, three decades has reaffirmed the uncertainty of the film business. >> sometimes we had film that did okay and become a huge hit. >> reporter: what movie was that? >> "flashdance" had an okay preview. wasn't great and it became a huge success. >> reporter: huge enough in 1983

to launch bruckheimer and don simpson as a producing team. together, they made "beverly hills cop" and "top gun." but simpson's drug use took control. >> in tenhe end, i left him in hopes he would wake up to say, it's time to change my life. >> reporter: he would die of an overdose in 1996. professionally, bruckheimer responded with hits. and in time, success in tv, too. with "csi." the importance of getting pm peterson. >> he's so good. he almost became a huge movie star but just missed. >> you made him a very rich man. >> he made me a little money myself. so it's good. >> reporter: with "on stranger tides" looking to make a lot of people a whole lot of money, bruckheimer remains an event movie master. right down to a black carpet disney land premiere.

why does that kind of showmanship still work in 2011 hollywood? >> because you want to send a message to the audience that the people who made the movie, who financed the movie really believe in it. when they spend money on it they believe it. >> here we are, once again. fourth time. >> i know. >> let's keep doing it. too much fun. >> reporter: is the audience ever wrong? >> never. >> reporter: i'm chris connelly for "nightline" in los angeles. chug that coffee, ) bolt that burrito. no matter what life throws at you, you can take the heat. until it turns into... heartburn. good thing you've got what it takes to beat that heat, too. zantac. it's strong, just one pill can knock out the burn. it's fast, the speed you need for heartburn relief. and it lasts, up to 12 hours. so let them turn up the heat. you can stop that heartburn cold: (sssssssss!!!) zantac. your advertising mail campaign is paying off! business is good! it must be if you're doing all that overnight shipping.

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first, there were hunters

and gatherers, then agriculture, then vegetable garden, and now the showdown here is, between people that grow lettuce and the animals that want to eat it. here's jim avila with tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: it can be funny in the movies. cartoon animals looking anything but annoying, but when it's your own backyard, not so funny. >> don't you just hate it when stray animals make a mess of your yard? >> reporter: a perfect marketing opportunity for those late night into meshl folks. to the rescue, the bell and howl solar animal repower. it's ultrasonic noise, undetectable to the human ear but supposedly irritating enough to drive away. >> dicky: >> rabbits, mice, deer, raccoons, skunk, even stray cats and docks. >> reporter: sounds cool. so, we decided to have a little fun with it in new jersey, at the lambert castle museum. they have a deer problem. >> i see the deer every day. >> reporter: here, the stakes

are high. allison says the deer have ravaged what used to be a victorian garden. it's now open buffet. >> we can't recreate it because it's like a salad bar for woodland creatures. >> reporter: so, we sent away for this $30 ultrasonic repeller. we set up night vision cameras, baited the lawn with irresistible piles of apples. one pile protected by the animal-annoying high pitch sound of the repeller. the other, unprotected and noise free. that blinking light ensures the repeller is spewing out the squeal as bambi munches away. >> they're not paying attention to it at all. >> reporter: paul curtis studied other repellers, using his own much fancier apple pile test, and the same thing happened. deer like apples. the need to eat is much stronger? >> the need to seat will win just about every time. >> reporter: but don't throw away the repel earl just yet the

into meshl says it has other uses. >> i wish i could do something about my neighbor's dog. it is always digging up by garden. >> reporter: enter wyatt and his yearning for biscuits. he at least seems to react to the noise when the motion detector kicks on, but alas, it's biscuits, by god. >> didn't really scare him away. >> reporter: so, just a noise. >> they hear a noise and don't have any negative consequence they become accustomed to it. >> reporter: the company that makes the repeller showed us test results in which animals did run away. but there was one clear differences in their demo. they didn't use any apples or biscuits to overpower the noise. for "nightline," i'm jim avila, abc news. >> okay. in partnership with consumer reports, "20/20" is producing a series on infomercials, starting right here tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. and thanks to jim avila for that look at that noise maker.

tomorrow night on "nightline," we go behind the scenes of the most expensive musical in broadway history. cynthia mcfadden meepts the high flying actor whose 40-mile-an-hour accident almost brought this show down. four months after a death defying drop, he's back in the air. and she speaks exclusively with u2's bono and the edge for the first time since the show opened in previews. >> reporter: so, i have never read quite so horrific reviews. things like "the new york times," it may rank among the worst musicals ever made. "the washington post," schill, a mess. what did you think when you read these? >> that's the sort of things we were saying backstage. i mean, seriously. >> reporter: is it fixed? >> good question. >> well, you can find out tomorrow night, only on "nightline." and thanks for watching abc news. we hope you check in for "good morning america," they'll have all the latest on the dominique strauss-kahn case,