LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Sex and the City" opens in theaters on May 30, but hundreds of thousands of fans have already been watching the movie piecemeal for months.

The big-screen adaptation of the HBO comedy smash started shooting on the streets of New York last September, creating Beatlemania-style pandemonium.

As soon as the four stars -- Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon -- started a-strutting, the paparazzi came a-shooting and fans came armed with video and digital cameras a-rolling.

The only ones keeping any of them in check were a few production assistants, two policemen and an assistant director who earned the moniker "Bullhorn Betty" by climbing aboard a 10-foot ladder and shouting through a megaphone when to keep back, keep quiet and keep out.

In retrospect, it's quite funny, says writer-producer-director Michael Patrick King.