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.
When I was a kid I loved the novelizations. They often had additional “scenes” that would add to the story. As an adult, I’m not sure if I would enjoy a novelization or see it as a complete cash grab. Probably depends on the quality of the novelizations, and my general cynicism at the time.
Do you think they were bonus scenes or more like “oh crap, this book will only be a 100 pages if I don’t make some stuff up” scenes?
Most additional scenes in the novelizations were actually in whatever script was referenced.
I remember the Back to the Future 2 novelization had a small exchange between Marty and the server at Cafe 80s about why he wants to use physical money, instead of just swiping his thumb.
I don’t know if that was from a deleted scene from the movie, but I felt it added some more setup to the part where Doc tries to save Jennifer and tells her to hold her thumb to the pad by the door.