I remember reading them back in the early 90s (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Far and Away, Back to the Future). They don’t seem to be a thing anymore (or am I just not noticing them).
As an aside I remember liking them but I was a preteen at the time so maybe they were terrible and I just liked the movies.
There are still some novelizations, as you can see in the article below, but they were much more popular before it was so easy to watch movies at home.
The most recent one I’ve heard of was Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
I think novelizations have the potential to be cool, but the few that I have read felt kind of soulless. They just describe what was on the screen.
Five Nights at Freddy’s movie novelization comes out next month.
I’ve read all the Star Wars movie novelizations.
I remember my first movie novelization though… Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.