"On the countless occasions that I have visited the cinemas I am yet to see a full house"
You should really get out more often then...The Saturdays I've been to Westgate there's definitely been countless full houses. Last week it was even a bit ghetto as they oversold the tickets so a few people actually sat on the floor!! :p
Anyways, back on topic, Zimbabwe's film and media industry aswell as delivery channels are still far too young to make any serious money just from sales. These production houses should rather focus on making great content with lovable characters which can then me monetized in the real world in the terms of appearences, merchandizing etc..