What are some of the different types of movie novelizations?

There are generally three main types of movie novelizations:

Young Adult (YA) Movie Novelizations

Typically adapted for an adolescent audience, these books are rarely longer than 100 pages and contain heavily abridged versions of the movie they’re based on. These can make for an amusing read, but don’t offer much substance for adult readers.

Faithful Movie Novelizations

The most common movie novelizations out there are the ones that are faithful, screenplay-to-novel adaptations where there’s nothing in the book that wasn’t already in the film. Though they don’t add anything new or surprising to the story, they’re still an enjoyable way to revisit or rediscover movies.

Creative Movie Novelizations

Creative movie novelizations are those that take more creative license with the source film material. In addition to including deleted scenes or alternate takes from scripts, these movie novels often include wholly new characters and/or subplots that the filmmakers never intended. Sometimes these adaptations can be so drastically different that they completely change the story. Consequently, this type of film novelization also tends to be the most sought-after by collectors. (See also: Are there any differences between movie novelizations and the movies they’re based on?)