Nicky Robbins, formerly account director at youth and film promotions agency Beatwax, will head the unit, alongside John Ridley, a veteran account manager who moves across from CSA's sponsorship division.
The new operation will be called Carlton Film Promotions and be run as an agency.
"The aim is to run it as an independent business, but obviously using our pivotal relationship within the film industry," said commercial director Nicolette Homes.
The division's first client is the British Film Institute, which has hired it to seek promotional opportunities based around the London Film Festival, held in November.
Marie Welch, formerly VP of international promotion for distributor UIP, has also been recruited to work alongside Homes. Carlton hopes its new venture will be able to launch promotional opportunities across Europe, thanks to parent company ITV's 50% interest in US and European cinema advertising giant Screenvision.
The launch of Carlton Film Promotions comes with far more encouraging figures for cinema advertising emerging from the second quarter of the year.
The latest figures from Nielsen Media Research record a 40.4% year-on-year increase in ad revenue, boosted by the success of films including The Da Vinci Code, which itself was the subject of a massive film promotion campaign this year involving VisitBritain and Eurostar.
Major on-screen advertisers in the second quarter included the likes of the AA, Apple Computers, Land Rover and ITV itself.
Cinema advertising was down 21% in the first quarter of the year, hit by a lack of blockbusters.
But the latest figures suggest it is up 9.3% for the year (Jan-Jun 06) at a time when outdoor, radio and TV have all seen revenues fall. Clare Turner, sales sirector at Pearl & Dean, said: "Cinema revenues in Q2 have been fantastic with lots of new advertisers taking advantage of the older, more upmarket audience offered by Da Vinci Code and shared family viewing offered by Ice Age 2."
Cinema also saw a 34.2% year-on-year increase in June despite the World Cup.
The Cinema Advertising Association said admissions were up 3.8% year on year.
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